Ghost Hunt - A New Start
by Hopelessfictionalist
Summary: 3 Years after Mai's confession Naru and the gang are back hunting ghosts and other supernatural things. However Mai is currently not with them, new cases and secrets are revealed. Rated M for langauge and content in future chapters.
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

*I don't own ghost hunt or any of the characters so I can't take credit for them, this work is completely fiction and is my first fanfic story. Please rate and comment, if there are any mistakes please let me know! Thank you*

 **Prologue**

 **Flashback** – 'that's not me that's gene'

'what?... what do you mean?'

'It's not me you've been seeing it's gene'

'…I don't understand Naru'

'Let me ask you something, is it me you're in love with or Gene?'

Mai's knees gave out in front of her and she barley felt the damp from the grass soaking her legs.

 **3 Years Later**

A high pitched scream echoed around the empty hallway. Faster faster run faster goddamnit! The women's leg screamed in agony as she ran as fast as she could through the house. Someone help me please. The woman rounded the corner only to come to a sudden stop, a dead end was in front of her. 'No no, please no' she thought. **Squelch** …. **Squelch** … **Squelch**. The woman backed up until her back was against the cold stone wall but it was too late. It rounded the corner, with a deformed body that had elongated limbs and claws where it's hands were, blood red eyes and huge teeth, the woman let out another scream.

"No! Stay away from me! Please! I don't know what you want" The monster just moved closer and closer until she could smell its rancid breath. She couldn't move, it was too late. The monster raised its claw above its head ready to lash out.

"HEY!" shouted a feminine voice from around the corner. The monster turned its head while the girl stood in fear. A growl made its way out of the thing but before it could move there was a swishing noise and then there was an eruption of blood as the monster's head rolled off of its body and onto the floor. The woman let out another scream and sunk to the floor. She looked up to see her who had rescued her. A woman all dressed in black, she wore knee high leather hiking boots with black trousers and a plain black corset along with a long sleeved black cropped leather jacket and in her hand a long blade of some sort that looked like a katana. However, the strangest thing about the woman was her face, the majority of her face was covered by a black mask, the bottom of it fitted around her neck like a choker and then came up over the jaw and mouth where it looked like the bottom of a gas mask had been attached to it. The eyes were also covered up by the mask and looked like lenses from sunglasses. The woman's light brown hair flowed down around her face and right to the bottom of her back.

"Are you alright?" She asked the woman on the floor as she stepped over the monsters already decaying body.

"Tha…Thanks…." The woman just stared up at her "You just saved my life" she said and she tried to stand up. " What the hell was that thing"

"It's probably better you don't know, follow me I'll show you how to get out of here"

"Okay" The woman in black walked in front of the other woman. 'Stupid monster, it's always worse when there are witnesses' She thought, turning quickly to the scared woman she grabbed hold of her shoulders.

"Hey what are you doing?! Let go of me!"

"Sorry but this is for the best" Before she could say anything the eye pieces in the woman's mask moved and then she couldn't see anything but darkness….

The woman caught the other one before she could hit the floor, 'great now I need to find somewhere to put her while I take care of this old wreck' she thought. Carrying the woman down the old gravel walkway that led up to the old abandoned house she kept walking until she came across an old oak tree where her motorcycle was hidden. 'Sorry but you'll have to sit here until I'm finished' putting the woman down under the tree the brown haired woman turned back to the house. 'Right time to get this over and done with' she pulled the lighter fluid out from behind the tree and then ran back into the house. After 10 minutes she had emptied the fluid into most of the rooms and returned to the outside. The house must have been built in the early 30's with a basic two story design with traditional western stone walls. 'What a shame, it's such a beautiful house…why is it always the nice ones that have the freaks haunting them' and with that thought she turned on the lighter and threw it into the house. _**WOOSH**_ flames started to grew around the house as it became gulfed in flames.

After standing for 10 minutes the woman turned back to the road pulled out her cell phone and called 999 'Hello what's your emergency'

"I'd like to report a young woman who has collapsed"

"what? What is your location?...beep…" The woman hung up before saying anything else. Walking over to the unconscious woman she turned on the phones GPS and put it in the woman's pocket.

"Sorry to leave you here but they'll be along soon to help you. I've got to go before anyone finds me, hopefully you'll not remember anything that happened." And with that she climbed on the back of her motorcycle and took off into the night.


	2. Chapter 2 Reunion Part 1

Chapter 1

The next day in Tokyo Japan…

"Hey Naru! Where do you want this put?" A tall dirty blonde haired man carrying a large brown box asked the slightly smaller dark haired man who stood with a scowl on his face.

"I don't know yet Monk there's too much dust in here to make out where anything goes" The man answered.

"Yeah well if you hadn't run off for 3 years to England maybe the office wouldn't look too bad" Monk answered, Naru turned round with a glare that could slay a walrus, "okay… I'll just sit it over here" Monk said as he sat the box down. "All I'm saying is you could have at least called every once in a while or at least after the funeral to let us know what was going on"

"Enough Monk, I don't want to share my personal life with you" Naru snapped, "not that it matters I'm back in Japan and I want to start SPR back up again." Monk just blinked in response. "Would you mind calling everyone into the office for tomorrow so that we can discuss new cases?"

"Uhh… sure Naru I'll see what I can do"

 **The next day**

The woman in black made her way through the dark alleyways of Tokyo, as she tightened her hood around her face, the sky crackled above her threating to drop rain. She quickened her pace 'I need to hurry up and get back to the hotel so that I can get packed to move onto the next case. Damnit why didn't I put on my mask' She tended to avoid going out during the day and she always wore her mask since her face tended to attract unwanted attention. Her next case had been advertised in the newspaper, an old set of production warehouses that had been out of commission for many years and locked up was opened last week for inspection for sale and a dead body of a young man was found. There was no obvious entry and the police statement said he died under suspicious circumstances which for her meant there was a high chance of the supernatural being involved. As she ran into the lobby of the run down hotel she shouted to the front desk that she would be leaving tonight rather than tomorrow morning. The hotel manager grunted a response, it was the kind of place where there weren't any forms to fill in when checking out, it was more of a cash in hand and don't ask any questions.

Other than hotels, inns or resorts of cases it was the only type of place she could stay at since everything that had happened 3 years ago, letting out a sigh she unlocked the room door and slipped inside to head through to Local Steel Works Ltd before anyone noticed.

 **Meanwhile at the SPR offices…**

6 adults perched on half covered couches and love seats waiting for Naru to start explaining to them why he was back.

"I guess I'll just ask then, why the hell are we here Naru?!" yelled the angry red haired miko

"Ayako calm down I'm sure he'll explain when he's ready" said Monk

"Shut up I never asked you, I asked him! He can't just disappear one day and then come back 3 years later and expect us not to ask any questions or without an explanation." Ayako huffed

"I agree with Ayako" stated the young blonde priest

"As do I" said another young woman dressed in a kimono

"Come on now guys, boss man will explain and update us on his plan" a young man with dark hair and glasses said.

"Yasuhara is correct if you would all calm down for a minute I'll explain. Lin would you be able to get me some tea before we start" Naru looked over at the tall older man who was typing at his laptop. Lin looked up "We don't have anything unpacked so I can't make you tea without the kettle. Perhaps we should just explain and then we can unpack the office"

Naru sighed "Fine. Well as you've gathered myself and Lin are here to reopen SPR. After being in England for the past 3 years we've established that Japan has much more spiritual activity than before and my research will benefit more from being here. Thus I'd like to rehire all of you as we were before. Any questions?"

Ayako jumped out of her seat "You little… I have half a mind to smack you upside that giant head of yours"

Monk was holding Ayako back, "calm down would you" He turned to Naru "You have to admit Naru how can you expect us to come back to work with you after how you left things last time?"

Naru sighed "I understand if you don't want to but the offer is there take it or leave it" Silence fell over everyone.

After a long pause Monk broke the silence "alright I suppose I could help with a few cases"

The young woman wearing a kimono responded "if I'm not busy with my filming I too will help you", this set of multiple of similar responses agreeing on reforming SPR. Naru nodded seeming satisfied with all the responses. Then the blonde priest John then pointed out something that everyone had seemed to be avoiding, "Monk, when you called all of us to meet up did you not phone Mai?"

Monk froze and the atmosphere suddenly darkened. "Yes I would also like to know where Mai is? Was she not able to come at this time?"

Monk paled "well to be honest I had no idea how to get in touch with her?"

"What do you mean?" responded Naru

"None of us have seen her or heard from her since that day at the lake three years ago…" Naru just stared at Monk in disbelief.

"Why? I thought you all were meant to be taking care of her"

"We tired but we couldn't, once you came back from getting…- _pause_ -"Monk swallowed "Gene's body…. Mai followed but she seemed really dazed, I don't know what happened between you two but either way it wasn't good"

"We assumed she'd be alright after you had gone but it got worse. We dropped her off at her apartment and myself and Ayako decided to come back the next morning to check on her and she seemed alright. She let us in and was her cheerful self but then we got busy and we couldn't get round to see her for a few weeks. It wasn't until Masako got a strange phone call from her that we rushed round to her apartment. When we got there the place was trashed, there was barely anything in the apartment and what was there was broken or in disarray"

Yasu cut in "we tried calling her but her phone was disconnected, her landlord said she hadn't seen her in weeks but that she left in a hurry despite having paid for another 3 months use of the apartment. I went to her school but they said she'd withdrawn, her school friend said she hadn't been there since before our last case."

"We tried as best we could but how are you meant to find someone who doesn't want to be found?" Ayako finished.

The group sat in silence for a few minutes Naru had a severe look of concentration on his face as he processed what he had just been told. "Fine, we'll start working on cases and I'll see what I can do to find Mai, I want you all to try finding her as well." Everyone in the room nodded.

"so…. Where is our first case then?" Monk broke the awkward silence.

"It's an old out of business warehouse, the owner of the factory died many years ago and it has been sitting empty since. We were asked by someone who wants to buy the land for apartment blocks to investigate after the body of a young man was found in the warehouse. It appeared as if his chest had been ripped open and part of his arm was missing." Naru paused "That's all the information I have for now; everyone be here tomorrow at 8am so we can through in enough time" Everyone nodded "Naru what's the company called so I can do some background research before tomorrow" Yasu asked.

Naru answered "It's called Local Steel Works Ltd"


	3. Chapter 3 Reunion Part 2

_**Authors note: Hey everyone! I've really appreciated all the feedback and views that I've received so far, a few people have asked me to write more as soon as I can which is really touching. I'm sorry it took me so long to get another chapter up but between work and the new pokemon game I've not had a lot of time. I know this chapter is short but I'm hoping to get the rest of this case finished and up before next week! Thanks again for reading, I hope you enjoy please rate and review!**_

 **2am The Next Day**

The woman drove silently through the deserted streets, the motorbike underneath her made little noise as it glided along the road. She loved travelling at this time because the streets were silent and she could travel with ease. She was making her way towards the Steel works which was located near the docks in Tokyo, the warehouse was easy to find. Sitting by itself it was obvious that it hadn't been used in years. It reminded her of the first case she ever worked on when she was still in high school she only stumbled into the job because of an accident. The old school building was in the same state as this one was and of course it was where she'd met him. Him. Them. Everyone who she used to consider her friends and family.

'Pull yourself together Mai' She thought shaking her head 'You've got a job to do!'

She pulled her motorbike into an empty shipping container that lay round the ride of the factory, took of her helmet and climbed off. Hiding her bike made it easier to avoid unwanted attention, she pulled a dark sheet from her rucksack and covered the bike. 'Alright let's see what we are dealing with here' she thought. Closing the container door, she pulled a flashlight from her backpack and made her way to the warehouse. The rusted lock was discarded and the door opened with a creak using her flashlight to scan around the room she could see that this warehouse was home to heavy duty machinery all of which looked as if it hadn't been used in years.

'Well this place is definitely creepy enough to be haunted' She thought 'Can't sense any spirits at this exact moment though, I should go and find somewhere to set up base'. Climbing the stairs to the row of offices that sat above the factory floor she opened the one that was at the very end of the top of the stair case that was relevantly clean and not too dusty. 'This'll have to do for now' She dumped her bag on the floor and pulled out several items from her backpack blueprints, sleeping bag, water, knife and holy water. She decided to start by taking a walkthrough the factory, since it was only the first night and if there were any spirits haunting the building they wouldn't show up for the first day when someone new appeared. Not unless they were particularly malicious.

Scanning the factory blueprints she could see that it was a fairly simple layout, two stories high with all of the equipment on the ground floor and the small row of offices located on the 1st floor. She skimmed over the ground floor looking from machine to machine, most of them were covered in a thick layer of dust expect for one. Lying in the middle of the factory floor was an electric guillotine of some sort with a conveyer belt leading up to it. Mai shivered 'of course it would be the one with the giant blade that was covered in blood', she was right there was dried blood all over the conveyer belt and blade. 'Must have been where one of the bodies were found. No wonder the papers never released a cause of death beheading wasn't something the public needed to know about. I wonder where the other body was found, according to the papers the other young man had his chest ripped open and part of his arm was missing. Not sure any of these machines would open up a man's chest cavity so cleanly' Mai thought.

Moving away from the cutting machine Mai walked around the rest of the factory, there were 4 other sets of doors, 2 leading to the outside and another 2 that were sealed shut. One of them was sealed with a padlock which wouldn't be too difficult to open the other appeared to be locked from the other side which would be more difficult. Looking around Mai was able to find a crow bar, 'this should work for breaking that lock'. **_Thunk_** the lock fell to the floor, holding onto the crowbar Mai kicked the door open. The door opened to show a storage room, stacked high to the ceiling with various metal and rotten wooden planks, there were also metal shelves filled with tools, helmets and safety equipment. 'Hmm' She thought 'Can't really see much in this light, might be better to wait until the morning before investigating any further'.

'I guess I'll call it a night and get some rest' closing the door she went back to the room upstairs and laid out the sleeping bag, crawling inside she skimmed through some of the newspaper clippings before she fell asleep.

 ** _Dreamworld_**

Mai awoke to a world of darkness, she stood up and tried to figure out where she was.

"Well, well, well, long time no see Mai" a voice from behind her said

Mai turned around her eyes widened "…Gene?! What the hell?! Why are you here?! I've not spoken to you since the last time I saw…. Well since the last time I saw Naru!"

"I missed you too" Gene said smirking. He looked the same as he did 3 years ago, dark black hair, indigo blue eyes, all black clothes and a cheeky grin plastered on his face.

"Cut the crap, I haven't seen you in 3 years and now you wanna play catch up?! I don't think so Gene, if you are here for a reason tell me and then get the hell out of my head."

Gene blinked in shock "wow…um… I'm sorry I haven't appeared to you in a while Mai but I didn't know what was going on"

"why haven't you passed over? I thought that once we found your body you'd be gone?" Mai demanded.

"I don't know Mai, it might have something to do with my brothers return to Japan."

Mai froze, her eyes wide in shock. "Did you…. Did you just say HE'S returning to Japan?! Why?! His perfect, professional, narcissistic, tea addicted ass not happy over in England?!" Mai practically screamed.

"Mai calm down, I know you are angry at him"

"Angry… ANGRY… angry doesn't even begin to cover the emotions I feel for your brother Gene. 3 years Gene, 3 years he just abandoned us and me! You know I understood that he had to take you home and deal with mourning but after what he said at the lake he could have at least called to let us know how he was. It's my own fault really, I mean I guess I should have known he didn't care about us or me." Mai sighed "Anyway are you here for a reason Gene? Other than to inform me of your brothers return?"

"I'm not really sure myself to be honest Mai, I was just in darkness for who knows how long and then suddenly I was back." He paused "It's weird seeing you Mai, you look completely different...".

"Well a lot changes in 3 years…." Mai snapped. Gene was right Mai had grown taller and now stood at 5.11, her hair was longer, her body toned from her cases and her eyes were still hazel brown but had rings of red through the colour. In addition to that she now had a small vertical scar through her right eye that ran from under her eyebrow down to the top of her cheek.

"Look Gene I'd love to stay and chat but I have a case to solve and I work best on a good night's sleep"

"Yeah…and judging by the panda eyes you have going on you obviously need some" Mai scowled in response.

"I really don't have the time or the patience for this tonight Gene"

"I get it Mai, you're mad and after what happened with Naru I can't say I blame you"

"This isn't just about Naru Gene, the world doesn't revolve around him. Despite what he thinks. Other things have happened in the past 3 years and I just don't have the energy to explain everything to you."

"Would these things have anything to do with that scar? Or why you are sulking around abandoned factories at 3 in the morning?" Gene stated

Mai blinked "They might do. Not that it has anything to do with you."

Gene sighed "well I'm sorry for what happened Mai, I know you're upset but will you forgive me?"

"I wouldn't hold your breath if I was you" Mai said as she crossed her arms over her chest and stood up defensively.

"Well I don't technically breathe anymore anyway…you know with the whole being dead thing" Mai smirked in response. I shall leave you alone for now but I will be back, oh also you should probably wake up soon since you have some friends arriving"

"Friends? What are you talking about?" Mai asked. Before Gene could reply her vision started to fade back into the darkness.

 **11Am**

Mai sprang up in her sleeping bag, heart pounding and ears ringing, 'that bastard always has to have the last word! That was weird though, why the hell is Gene here?! Ugh just when I thought things were going fine something else always has to spring up.' Standing up Mai heard the faint sound of tires and some mumbled talking. Freezing in her place she listened to surroundings 'I thought this place was empty.'

Shoving her items into her backpack she put her mask on over her face for protection purposes, her revolver in her waistband, grabbed her small hunting knife and made her way out of the office door. Staying in a crouch position she peered over the railing, there was nothing to be seen on the factory floor but there were definitely noises coming from outside. She jumped over the railing and landed silently on the ground below, she then moved quickly over to the windows next to the door and looked out to see something she wasn't prepared to see.


	4. Chapter 4 Reunion Part 3

**_Authors Note: Thanks to everyone who has read so far! I'm trying to get as many new chapters uploaded as I can. Please review and let me know what you think of the story so far. I don't own ghost hunt or any of the characters (I wish I did though)._**

 **Chapter 3**

 **S.P.R P.O.V**

Naru sat impatiently in the front of the van while Lin drove with Masako in the middle. Normally Naru wouldn't have minded the silence when travelling to a case but since landing in Japan he'd been unsettled, something didn't feel right and it set all his nerves on edge. Sighing in frustration he tried to stretch out in the front of the van but there was hardly any space for his legs never mind the case folders and Lin's laptop that he was trying to use.

"Do you know how much longer it will take before we arrive?" He asked turning to Lin

"For the factory it we should be there in 10 minutes the hotel is a close to it. I assumed you wanted to head there first, set up the equipment and then go to the hotel last?" Lin asked

"That's correct" Naru answered

"Do you have much information about what we could potentially be dealing with Naru?" Masako asked from between the two men. She'd taken time out of her busy film career to help out on the case.

"Not a lot, I've got the basic history of the building and the list of owners back to the start of the 1900's but there hasn't been much to uncover expect from the recent body found." Masako nodded in response and turned her gaze back to the window.

Naru checked in the mirror to see that John, Yasahura, Ayako and Monk were still driving behind them. "It's the next right" Naru instructed. As they pulled off the main road they were in front of the factory within minutes. Lin pulled the van to a stop in front of the building while Ayako drove in beside them. The building stood tall with a rundown look to it, a huge double door with some windows around it appeared to be the entrance. There were smaller windows running around the top of the building but they were all dirty or broken.

"Well it doesn't win any points for its looks that's for certain" Monk stated stretching his legs as everybody else climbed out of the vehicles.

"I just hope the hotel you've booked us into is in better condition than this. I never stay anywhere unless it has at least a 4-star rating" Ayako said

"That's only because you'd scare the staff away from any lower rating ones" Monk said sniggering

"What was that?!" Ayako asked

"Nothing…"

"I hope you go bald Monk"

"Right back at you, you old bag." **_Smack_** Ayako's bag landed with on the ground next to Monk while he jumped from foot to foot "OWWW that hurt!"

"Oh I'm sorry did my hand slip?" Ayako replied snidely

"What the hell do you keep in that bag?!" Monk said while rubbing his head

"Now now children, calm down before boss man has a seizure" Yasahura chimed in and directed the attention to Naru.

Sighing Naru turned to the group "I want to do a walkthrough before setting up the equipment so that we can pinpoint the best place for base and where to put the cameras. Everyone grab a torch and have a look around once we've unlocked the door. Make sure to stay close to someone and don't wander off. We don't know what we are dealing with here but from the look of the state the body was found in it might be something seriously dangerous. We'll spend 20 minutes looking around and then we'll set up a base. Judging from the blue prints it only has two floors so the offices on the 1st floor will act as our base. Everyone got that? Let's go."

Closing the van doors everyone had a flashlight with them, it was still early in the day but buildings like this tended to still be pretty dark and the lighting inside would probably be in a state. Naru walked up to the door and then stopped "Naru?" Lin asked

"There should be a lock on this door" Naru said, 'hmmm that's strange' he thought. Ignoring the looks from everyone he pushed open the heavy doors and made his way inside.

 **Mai P.O.V**

Mai stared out of the window as the group got out of the van. 'Crap this is bad' she thought '3 years have passed and they all look the same'. Naru and John were the only two who looked any different than they had the last time she'd seen them. John had grown into a fine young man but still had some of his baby boy looks. Naru on the other hand looked nothing like Gene still did, standing at least 6 feet tall he stood at eye level with Lin, still skinny but he had more lean muscle on him than before and actually looked more like the boss than previously. His dark hair was slightly longer and just resting above his indigo eyes. 'Still wearing all black I see, well I guess some things never change' Mai thought.

She watched them as they opened up the back of the van and reached in to take out what appeared to be flash lights and turned back to the factory. 'Better move, I can't have them finding me here.' With that thought Mai turned ran and then jumped straight up and over the railing to the 1st floor. 'I do love having the powers to do that now it makes life so much easier' she thought as she ran into the room she grabbed her bag, swung it over her shoulder and walked back out as she heard the door creak open. 'Hmm where am I going to hide?' looking around she glanced upwards 'that's it! The rafters!' The factory ceiling was covered in them, there were several that overlapped and would make a good hiding place in the darkness. Peering over the edge of the railing to make sure none of them would see her she tightened her muscles and sprang with cat like precision and landed on the closest ones in silence.

'This'll have to do for just now, I think I'll just watch them to see what they know about the case.'

Below the group had started to scan through the factory floor, "Hey Naru, any idea what these rooms are meant to be?" Monk ask while gesturing to the two doors Mai had looked at earlier.

"This one is firmly locked but the other one is open" Monk said while peering into the storage room. Naru looked sceptically at the door.

"What is it boss man?" Yasahura asked

"Look at the bottom of the doors" Naru replied, they turned their flashlights to the bottom of the door. "Do you see how on this side there is a build-up of dust but on the other side it's completely clean? It means these doors were opened very recently otherwise there would have been dust on both sides."

"okay… so?" Yasahura asked

"Be on guard we might not be the only ones here" Naru said.

'Very observant of you Naru' Mai thought from her hiding place 'You'll have to do better than that to find me though asshole'

"Naru what did you say the cause of death for the body found was?" Ayako shouted from the other side of the factory floor.

"The young man had his chest ripped open, why?" turning round he saw what Ayako was talking about. She was standing next to the huge guillotine that was probably used to cut wood or maybe the metal, however what was more disturbing was the dried blood that covered the conveyer belt and blade.

"Do you think this was used to cut off the victims arm?" Monk asked

"No. The post-mortem showed the arm had been ripped off, this blade would have caused a clean cut." Yasahura replied while looking at his copy of the case files.

The silence was broken by Naru "Masako do you sense anything?"

Holding her sleeve in front of her face "I can't detect any spirits at the moment but there is certainly something vicious here, the atmosphere is dense with the smell of blood."

Nodding Naru turned his gaze to everyone else "The offices are upstairs, Lin and Monk go and see if you can find a power source in any of them and everyone else go and start bringing the equipment in so we can set up a base." Monk and Lin turned to head and walk up the stairs while the rest of the group headed back outside to the van.

'Same old Naru, good luck finding a power source in this dump' Mai starting walking over to the other rafters while looking at the factory floor, with her mask on her night vision powers were stronger. She focused her hearing on Monk and Lin, squinting her eyes she noticed that both the men looked slightly older and Lin had a ring on his left hand, 'hmmm I wonder if he and Madoka finally tied the knot then.'

"Hey Lin can I ask you something?" Monk asked while the men walked into the first run down office. Lin nodded while turning his attention to the room, the windows were mouldy from damp and had condensation running down them. There were rusted file cabinets stacked up against one wall and an old wooden desk in front of the windows. The strange thing was there was a wooden chair sitting behind the desk but unlike everything else in the room it didn't appear to have any damage or been affected by age at all.

"Well I have to ask, why did Naru want to come back to Japan? The real reason Lin because I'm not buying the whole Japan has more supernatural activity than England nonsense." Mai listened intently from the rafters just outside the room 'so that was the reason he came back for'

Lin sighed while examining the room for a power box "I don't see any power source in here let's move onto the next room" as they made their way to the next room Lin said "as for your question I'm not sure either, when we went back to England to begin with he was silent and moody more so than he normally is which we assumed was because of Gene. Then after a few months he got worse, he'd have angry outbursts and then brood for days, even Martin and Luella began to notice. After that he threw himself into his work even more so than before, he'd be out of the house for days living at the office. Finally, a few weeks ago he stormed up to me and stated 'I'm going back to Japan. The supernatural activity is stronger over there and I'm bored." Lin paused while he scanned his torch around the second room, it appeared to be a file room. Slightly smaller than the office next door this room was stacked with file cabinets and cardboard boxes from floor to ceiling.

"There may be a generator behind some of these boxes" Monk stated while moving to check.

"Anyway Naru being Naru had everything packed and planned within the week and here we are." Lin finished while also moving boxes.

"So…that's it? He just felt like coming back for work?" Monk asked

"Yes." Lin answered

"Well I don't buy it Lin. You don't just decide to move half way around the world one day because you're bored. If you ask me there is something else going on in that boy's head" Lin shrugged and moved further into the maze of boxes. "Do you think it could have something to do with Mai?" Monk asked. Lin froze and turned slowly.

'Ahh how nice of you to remember my name Monk' Mai thought.

"The thought did cross my mind Takigawa. It would make more sense if we knew where she was or what she was doing. You haven't heard from her in almost three years?"

"No we haven't. At first we tried everything to find her Ayako was beside herself, we searched high and low for 6 months and couldn't find anything. We even tried to contact the police but they said because she was 16 she could have just run away or moved and that putting out a search for her was a waste of time. At that point we were all exhausted and didn't know what else to do. We agreed to stop there, we said we'd try to keep working on finding her separately but we had our own lives to live you know how it is. We came to the conclusion that she didn't want to be found or that…well that she was dead." Monk finished

"I see." Lin said. "There's nothing here either let's try the next room"

'So that's their excuse, I suppose it's nice to know they kept looking for me after I disappeared with…him' Mai thought, watching as Lin and Monk made their way to the next room down. Monk tried to open the door to the room but it was jammed. He then pushed harder against the door but it still didn't budge.

"Guess this one's jammed too" Monk said.

"Any luck finding a power source yet?" John called from the other end of the metal landing as he carried a box of equipment into the first office.

"Not yet but we still have two rooms left to check" Monk replied. Lin opened the next door and started coughing.

"You alright there? Oh my god what is that smell?!" Monk starting choking at the doorway. Even from her hiding place Mai's eyes started to water 'stupid enhanced senses she thought'.

"I think this is the kitchen/bathroom that the office workers would have used. The smell is probably coming from that fridge." Lin stated while moving quickly to the window and heaved it open to let in some air.

"Hey Lin I think I found a small power source! We'll need some extensions but this power box appears to be linked to the top of the factory which means we'll at least have some light and be able to work the camera's" Monk said while flicking the switch, a loud buzzing noise was heard throughout the factory and then the lights started to turn on. Luckily the lights were hanging from the rafters that overlooked the factory floor so Mai could avoid being seen.

"Finally some lights I can barely see anything in here" Ayako stated from the other room. Making their way into the office Monk and Lin started to help the rest of the group set up the equipment.

"Let's set up the main equipment and I want camera's in each of the rooms and looking down onto the factory floor until we can find some longer extension cables to reach all the machines. I doubt there will be any activity tonight so once we've finished that we can head to the hotel to do some background research." The group dispersed to set up the cameras.

 **2 Hours later**

Mai waited until she heard the car and van pull out of the driveway before jumping down from her hiding space to the factory floor. She picked her spot carefully as to avoid being caught on camera, just in case she'd kept her mask on and pulled up the hood of her jacket so that she would just appear as a shadow in any video feed. She didn't have much time to figure out as much as she could before the group had set up cameras everywhere and she'd have to just observe them. 'Bastards, only back five minutes and he's already grinding on my last nerve.' She thought as she made her way to the storage room. 'I mean I could leave but I got here first and I don't really have any other job leads at the moment' repositioning some of the rotting wood and metal out of the way in the storage room to see what she could find.

The room was still dark but it was easier to make out everything during the day, Mai could have used her night vision but overusing her powers drained her energy ridiculously quickly and she was having to save it for fast movements to avoid being seen. 'Hmm there doesn't seem to be much in here' the murky room was stuffed full of stuff but none of it seemed particularly helpful to figuring out if the place was haunted or not. Moving around to the back of the room Mai found a row of uniforms hanging in place, they were heavy duty safety outfits with masks attached to them. 'Super creepy' Mai thought but what caught her attention was the uniform at the end, shining her torch on it she could see that it looked a lot older than the other ones, not only that but the uniform looked as if it had blood covering the torso and arms. Leaning in Mai noticed a piece of paper sticking out of the corner, pulling it out she realised it was a photograph, it was in black and white and was the photo of a young man and woman standing together smiling. The young man looked like a working class man with a workers cap and dirt patches on his face. The young woman on the other hand was very beautiful wearing a traditional kimono that looked expensive. Turning the photo around Mai noticed some writing on the back, myself and Kiku the writing read. As Mai went to put the photo in her pocket she felt the temperature in the room drop significantly.

" _Giveee him back…"_ a voice echoed

Turning around just in time to see the door slam from between the shelves, she found herself locked in the room. Her breath coming out in clouds in front of her

" _Give him back to me_ " the voice repeated

"Give who back?" Mai asked the room

" _GIVE HIM BACK_!" The voice screamed and the room started shaking, everything started to fall from the shelves as glass started to crack. Mai threw herself to the floor as she dodged a falling iron bar. Suddenly everything stopped and her vision went red.

 **WOOSH** air moved around her and suddenly she was standing in the middle of the factory floor. Standing in front of her was the young man and woman in the picture and also an older gentleman that shared the girl's black hair and brown eyes. The man appeared to be angry but their voices were muffled, Mai watched as the older man lunged at the young boy, the girl screamed as the boy fell to the floor, losing her balance she tripped and fell onto what appeared to be a conveyer belt, before Mai could see what happened next a high pitched scream pierced her ears and a red haze covered her vision again.

Scrunching up her eyes she lay still for a few minutes and then opened them. She was lying on her back in the store room, everything was chaotic with wooden and steel beams all over the place, helmets lay smashed and equipment in between the rubble. Even the very few windows were cracked, the only thing still in place was that work uniform. Pulling herself off of the ground to exam the damage Mai noticed a gash along her right forearm from where she fell, it was too deep but there was still a small pool of blood on the floor. 'What's the point in having powers if a ghost can still make you their punching bag?' She thought, climbing over the mess she slid the photo back into the work uniform and then climbed back out of the storage room.

She jumped straight back up onto the rafters to avoid the cameras and walked over to where her bag was, pulling out a bandage she covered the gash and then sat down on the beam. She glanced at her watch, it was turning 5am 'how long was I passed out for?!' better get some sleep before the group turns up.


	5. Chapter 5 Reunion Part 4

**Authors Note: Hi everyone! Thank you to those of you who have taken the time to read what I've posted, I know this next chapter is a short one but I've not had a lot of time to write, in between work and Christmas I've been pretty busy but I'm hoping to get much more written this week so please be patient! Anyhoo I don't own ghost hunt or the characters. Please enjoy this new chapter.**

 **Ghost Hunt - A New Start Reunion - Part 4**

 **3 Hours later...**

Everyone stood or sat in the base in the factory "So what's the plan for today boss man?" Yasu asked

"Please tell me it includes finding some more chairs" Monk chimed in from his cross legged sitting position on the floor.

"We have some more fold out chairs in the van if you want to go and get them Takigawa" Lin suggested, Monk nodded in response and left.

"Myself and Lin are going to watch the videos from last night, Masako, John and Ayako I want you to do another walk through and take temperature readings, bear in mind that this building has been empty for years so it will be naturally colder than normal. Yasu and Monk I want you to put cameras on the factory floor with the other extension cables we got yesterday." Naru stated while Monk returned with the chairs "Once everyone is finished I want you all back here to discuss the details about the factory that we were able to uncover yesterday". In response everyone nodded and began to move. The base room was silent except for the tapping coming from Lin's keyboard, both him and Naru started to watch the video's from last night.

Meanwhile – Ayako, John, Masako's P.O.V

"Let's start with outside the factory, that way we have a base rate for temperature" John suggested

"Whatever let's just start" Ayako said. The group made their way outside recorded the temperature and then recorded the one on the factory floor. "Can you sense anything yet Masako?" Ayako asked

"There's a spirit of a young woman here" Masako said from behind her kimono sleeve. "I don't sense a great deal of malleolus energy coming from the female spirit…she seems lost, as if she's looking for something."

"Let's see what the next room is" John said as the group moved onto the back storage room. Walking into the storage room Ayako let out a gasp as the group took in the mess of the storage room.

"What the hell happened in here?!" Ayako exclaimed

"Was this room like this yesterday?" Masako asked

"I don't think so… Look do you see that over there?" John pointed to the uniform that was hung up from the coat rack "that's the only thing in the room that appears to not have been broken or part of the mess. We should report this back to Naru right now"

Upstairs…

Naru and Lin were in the middle of watching the recordings from the previous night. Ayako, John and Masako walked into the room "Are you finished with the readings?" Naru asked

"Not yet, we may have found something in the storage room." John said

"What did you find?" Naru remarked

"Well the storage room had a very low temperature reading and the room was completely trashed. Yesterday everything was in normal condition and today it's all over the place" John exclaimed

"Hmmm… Did you find anything else strange about the room?" Naru asked

"Well there was what appeared to be a work uniform that hadn't been moved" John replied

"hmmm… Lin you continue to watch the tapes and we'll go and investigate." Naru said as he marched past John and made his way down the metal stairs, as he clanked down the stairs he passed Yasu and Monk who were in the process of assembling power cords for cameras on the factory floor.

"What's happening Boss man?" Yasu asked

"We think there was some possible spiritual activity during the night" John replied. Naru ignored the comments and kept walking until he reached the room. Swinging the door open he saw what John, Masako and Ayako had been talking about.

"Whoaaa what happened in here?" Monk asked as he popped his head around the door. Naru looked sceptically around the room. Climbing over one of the metal beams Naru wandered over to the suit and inspected it, he then noticed the photo in the pocket, pulling the photo out of the suit he looked closer and saw the image of a young man and woman with the writing myself and Kiku on the back. He then turned around to look at the rest of the room. 'What's this he thought?' brushing through some more of the mess Naru bent down to look at the red pool of liquid. 'Blood, fresh blood'.

"Find anything Naru?" Yasu asked

"Yes." Naru answered in response as he climbed out of the room "Monk finish setting up the cameras in here and on the floor and meets us back at base".

Mai's P.O.V

 **Flashback**

Mai could barely feel the rain soaking her skin and thin clothes as she tried to walk back to the cabins from the lake. 'Me or Gene. Me or Gene. Me or Gene' Naru's voice echoed around in her head. "Hey Mai you alright?" Mai barely heard Monk as she made her way into the cabin. Still in her daze she packed and next thing she knew she was back in her apartment.

"We'll come and see you tomorrow morning alright?" Ayako asked

"Yeah…sure, sounds great Ayako" Mai responded walking into her apartment. Mai was still in shock that she didn't feel how unusually cold her small apartment was. 'How could I have been so naïve?' She thought 'Of course it was never Naru, Naru would never act like that towards me. What was I thinking?' She could feel her legs give way in the hallway as she fell to the floor. Mai didn't know how long she'd been sitting in the hall for but she eventually dragged herself upstairs to bed. Passing out from the emotionally exhausting day she had no dreams that night, no cases, no spiritual meetings and no dream Gene. All she could see was darkness, a completely black void was all that filled her mind.

 _End of flashback_

Mai bolted up from her sleeping spot, sweat covered her entire body and her head was pounding. She felt feverish and sore from her ghost encounter earlier in the day, from the noises below her the gang were obviously still in the factory as well. 'Urghh guess I won't be getting much investigating done today' Mai thought as she tried to focus her hearing into the group, fighting against her headache she made sure not to lose her balance on the rafters.

She could hear Naru in the base room below. "Alright Naru we've finished setting up the rest of the cameras, what did you want to discuss?" Monk said. 'Oh great more cameras' Mai thought

"I wanted you here to discuss what Masako, Ayako and John found earlier. The open storage room that we found yesterday was in a mess earlier today. John also pointed out that there was a work uniform that had been left untouched, this photo was in the pocket of the uniform." Naru stated while placing the photo down on the table. "I also noticed that there was some blood in amongst the wreckage. Which could be one of two things. Either the spirits in here have left it or we aren't the only ones here investigating." Naru finished 'Hmm well noticed Naru' Mai thought.

General P.O.V

"Did anyone uncover anything else in the notes last night?" Naru asked.

"Well I did find out some information about the previous owners of the factory" Yasu answered "as we know the factory has been sitting empty since 1960 according to the records, before that the factory was under the running of a Mr Maki who lived by himself and was said to be a very kind man. The factory went into ruins when Mr Maki's body was found decapitated one morning. The police were unable to find any clues to a culprit and sealed the factory up, that was until that last body was found a few weeks ago with its chest ripped open."

"Well even if it is the spirit of Mr Maki that is tied to the land usually he would have killed the other body in the same manner." Monk stated

"Do you think we are dealing with 2 spirits then?" Ayako asked

"Did you find anything else in the history?" Naru said

"The only other thing I found was that Mr Maki bought the factory cheap in an auction after the previous owner Rento Takahashi committed suicide. How or why he killed himself is unclear but there were some notes about the company being in the Takahashi family for generations" Yasu finished

"Did the file say anything about Takahashi having a son?" Naru asked

"Not that I could find so far" Yasu answered

"What are you thinking Naru?" Monk asked

"Well I believe that photo has something to do with what has been going on. I think it is more than just a coincidence that that and the uniform is the only thing in the storage room that hasn't been moved." Just as the group was deep in thought Lin interrupted

"Naru I think I've found something" Naru moved to beside the screens, Lin turned to the speakers "listen"

There was very little noise coming from the audio and then a few minutes later banging could be heard, followed by a female voice "Give him back" it started in a whisper and gradually got louder until she was screaming the same thing. Suddenly the noise cut out.

"Do you think this was recorded at the same time as the storage room was trashed?" Monk asked

"It's highly possible" Naru said "Monk, Ayako, John and Masako I want you to investigate the storage room to see if you can find anything else buried in it. Yasuhara I want you to go back to the hotel and do more background research, see what you can find out about Takahashi." Naru finished and the group moved out.

5 hours later…

"There's nothing here!" Monk complained while moving more old equipment out of the way

"stop complaining" Ayako said

"Of course you aren't tired you've just sat and filed your nails for the past 5 hours" Monk retorted.

Ayako snorted and turned her head to the intact uniform "the only thing of use in this room is that creepy uniform over there"

"I've already checked that Ayako and couldn't find anything but feel free to check again once you are finished watching us all work" Monk said

"Maybe I will" Ayako said while moving to inspect the uniform. "There doesn't appear to be anything unusual about it, did Naru say this is where the photograph was? Maybe the spirit was a worker?"

"Hmm I'm not so sure, the only spirit I can sense is a young female and the uniform appears I think belongs to a male" Masako responded

"Monk and John if you could come up to the base for a minute I want to try something" Naru said through the speaker. Monk sighed and John followed him out of the door.

Ayako turned to Masako "I have to ask Masako why do you think Naru is back?" she whispered

"I really have no idea"

"Ohh like I believe that, you were blackmailing him for years and we didn't know so don't act like you haven't got a clue as to why he suddenly decided to come back" Ayako said

"Ayako, I know that I used to have leverage over Shibuya but over the past 3 years I have had very little interest or involvement in his life" Masako said.

"Wait…so you aren't interested in him anymore?"

"Of course not" Masako said. Ayako just blinked. Before she could ask any other questions the temperature in the room suddenly dropped and the door slammed shut.

"What the hell was that?" Ayako said while moving closer to Masako, "Monk if that's you I swear I will kill you"

"I don't think that was Monk" Masako said, her face had paled and she held her sleeve in front of her face "He's so angry, so angry" the lights started to turn on and off, Ayako grabbed Masako by the arm

"We have to get out of here" pulling her to the door only to find out that it was locked

"Ayako…we have a problem"

"You think I can't see that! Stop pointing out the obvious and give me a hand with the door" Ayako turned to look at Masako but Masako's gaze was locked on something in the other side of the room. Ayako followed Masako's line of sight and watched in shock as the heavy duty uniform stood on the other side of the room and started to walk around the mess. There was a dark aura coming out of the figure that made the atmosphere feel heavy.

"MONKKKK, NARRRUUUUU, LINNNN, ANYONEEE" Ayako screamed at the door, she started pounding her fists against the solid iron as the figure made its way closer and closer to them. Grabbing Masako by the arm she stood in front of her just as the figure reached the two women.

"Giveee her back" the figure said as it moved closer to Ayako. An invisible force held Ayako in place as the figure lashed out a grabbed her by the throat.

"AYAKO!" Masako screamed

"GIVE HER BACK, SHE'S MINE!" the voice shouted, Ayako chocked and coughed as she struggled in the spirits grip. As she started to lose consciousness she heard the door slam open.

"AYAKO!" Monk shouted "Rin, Pyo, To, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen!" he chanted. The spirit yelled in pain and let go of Ayako, she crumpled to the floor coughing and holding her throat. The spirit yelled again and the suit fell to the floor in a heap, the lights flickered back to normal and the temperature in the room changed again. "Ayako, Ayako are you alright?" Monk asked while aiding to help the priestess up.

"I'm fine" she croaked through her injured throat, Monk and Lin helped her up while John escorted Masako back upstairs.

"What happened?" Naru asked as soon as the group was back in the base room

 _Cough-choke-splutter_ "we were in _cough_ the room _cough_ and we're attacked by some stupid spirit _cough cough"_ Ayako said while Monk handed Ayako a glass of water.

"You've got a nasty bruise developing on your throat" Monk said

"Miss Hara what did you see?" Lin asked. Masako recited what had happened to the rest of the group.

"so he said 'give her back? Is that not what was on the recording from last night?" Monk said

"Yes but the recording was 'give him back" Naru speculated

"So maybe a pair of lovers are haunting this place?" John asked

"It's highly possible but it doesn't explain why the spirit tried to choke Ayako when the other bodies found have been older males." Naru sighed "I think we shall call it a night, everyone back to the hotel and we'll continue investigating tomorrow, I want Monk and John to try an exorcism in the morning. Miss Hara you said you could sense a female spirit? If so I think it might be worth trying to contact her as well." With that Naru dismissed the group for the evening so they could rest and recover.


	6. Chapter 6 Reunion Part 5

**Authors note: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the final bit of this case, I've been typing all day straight so if there are any mistakes I will fix them tomorrow but I wanted to upload this as soon as I could. Please review and let me know what you think. I do not own ghost hunt.**

10pm Mai's P.O.V

Mai waited until the group had left the factory before moving from her spot again. She pulled her mask on and mapped out the camera's to find blind spots in the room, dropping down behind one on the factory floor she planned what to do next. Pulling out the blue prints Mai inspected them. 'No point inspecting the storage room any further since the group have already been in there all day. I wonder what the sealed room upstairs is' making her way upstairs Mai made a note of the different rooms, base room, file room, kitchen and bathroom at the end of the walkway and the third one was the one that was locked 'at least I know there won't be any cameras in there'.

She approached the door and double checked that she was out of sight from any of the cameras, using the shadows around her to keep her hidden she tried the door, it didn't move. 'Hmm going to need a bit more power for this' she threw her shoulder against it but still no luck. 'Alright here goes nothing' she moved away from the door to the railing, turning around she ran and threw her whole weight against the door. **CRACK** The door split straight down the middle sending Mai flying into the room. Landing head first on the floor she coughed as a cloud of dust settled around her, the second thing that hit her was the gut retching smell. Mai choked as she pushed herself up off of the floor to the pitch black room, there was only a small amount of light from the doorway. Grabbing her torch out of her back pocket she shined it round the room, the windows had been blacked out and everything was covered in dust or mould, the room looked like another office room exactly the same as the base but this one had more personal touches in it. Mai wandered over to the desk and found old photos of an older man with a young girl, the same young girl that was in the photo from yesterday, there were several photographs that were all similar, they reflected the older gentleman with the younger girl throughout the years 'Must be the Kiku's dad' putting down the photo Mai continued to look around to see if she could find the source of the horrid smell but there was very little in the office.

Just as Mai was digging through the old filling cabinet that's when she heard it. A creaking noise echoed through the room Mai looked up to see the body of a man swinging from the ceiling. Moving slowly over to the body Mai could see that it was the old man who was in the photographs. 'I'm sorry…I'm so sorry' a voice wailed louder and louder and just as quickly as the body appeared it disappeared. Mai stood in silence in the room. Sighing she walked back over to the desk where the photographs were 'I didn't wanna have to this but I'm not getting anywhere', putting her hand in front of her face and her other one on the photograph Mai closed her eyes and summoned some of her PK, focusing on what she had just seen she was thrown back into the past.

 _Standing in the same office Mai saw as the older gentleman sat at the desk with his head in his hands, a bottle of alcohol lay open on his desk and he was crying over a photograph._ _Muttering to himself 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Kiku, it's all my fault, it's all my fault'._ _Mai watched as time sped forward to a similar scene but the office had been darkened and the man stood on a chair while he tied the noose around his neck. 'Forgive me' he said as he kicked the chair out from under him._

Mai was slammed back into the present, she could feel her eyes pricking telling her that they would start bleeding soon as they usually did when she used her PK to look into the past. 'Right so we've got three ghosts wandering around, one is suicidal and the other two are related to this one somehow…hmm interesting.' _CLUNK CLANG_ Mai turned to the door where the noises were coming from.

Running outside the room the factory equipment had turned on, machines were cutting and moving and slicing and working how they would have years ago, despite the fact that none of them were connected to power supplies. Jumping downstairs Mai wandered between the machinery when she saw a shadow move, chasing after it she jumped over boxes and managed to corner it. "What are you after?" The shadowy figure turned around, it was a young girl who couldn't have been much older than 18, she was dressed in a beautiful kimono with straight black hair. Her brown eyes were dull and her kimono was covered in blood from the huge gash on her neck.

"Give him back to me" blood poured out of the gash on the girl's throat

"Yeah you've said that already, who do you want back?"

"Give him back!"

"WHO?" Mai screamed

"Daiki"

'That must be the young man in the photo' Mai thought

"We were meant to be together, it's not fair. It's not fair!" The girl cried and threw herself at Mai, she disappeared before reaching her and then everything slowed to a stop.

'I'll take that as yes then, alright so dead lovers trying to find each other then? Hmm how does dad play into this scenario?' Mai thought to herself as she moved back through the machinery and jumped back upstairs, once she was in the previously sealed room she let out a breath. 'Great there's no way they didn't get any of that on recording', rummaging through some more of the files in the cabinet Mai came across an old letter right at the bottom. Ripping open the envelope she could see that this letter was written in old Kanji she scanned over the letter…

 _My Dearest Daiki,_

 _I'm sending you this letter in warning, my father has found out about our plan to elope and is furious, I've tried to reason with him but he will not listen to reason._ _He's not allowed me to leave the house for days and has been dragging me to his work with him as well, despite how much he knows I detest the factory._ _I'm planning to sneak away while he is in his meeting and drop this letter off in your work uniform._ _In two days I will pack my things and try to sneak out, meet me at the docks by 10pm where we can run away and start our new lives together._

 _Yours Always_

 _Kiku_

Mai groaned internally 'tragic lovers are always the biggest pain in the ass to deal with' she thought 'okay so Kiku and Daiki are tragic lovers and Dad offed himself for whatever reason' putting the letter back in the envelope she placed it on top of the file cabinet. She then sneaked through to the base room, opening the door she was welcomed by a strange sense of nostalgia. Computer monitors stood against the side with fold down chairs sitting around the place, a travel kettle with tea cups sat on a desk and files were dotted around the room. Moving over to the computers Mai was able to log in and look at the footage, watching the previous incident between her and the ghost she checked to make sure she hadn't been caught on the camera, putting on the head phones she checked the audio, all that could be heard was Kiku's voice. Logging back out of the computer and putting everything back where it was Mai went to leave when something caught her eye, moving over to a folder of files there was a photograph sticking out, the photo was one Mai had forced the group to take on a case, everyone was arguing or moving around and Mai had been smiling straight at the camera but the photo had made her laugh and she had given everyone a copy. Sighing she put the photo down and went back to her hiding space for some rest.

Next Day 10am…

The group sat in base, Ayako with a bandage around her neck looking over files. Yasu interrupted the silence "I found some interesting information about the previous owners, well Mr Maki who was found dead lived by himself however he did have a young daughter who died when she was in her 20s. The owner before that Mr Rento Takahashi also had a young daughter Kiku, Mr Takahashi's wife died during childbirth and Kiku was the only family that he had after being given the factory from his dad. Rento committed suicide by hanging himself in the factory, although I couldn't find anything about what room that was in. I did however find that there were rumours that Kiku the daughter was madly in love with one of the factory workers, of course in those times an upper class business man's daughter dating a lower class workman was frowned upon. Anyway as it turns out Rento found out and confronted the workman along with his daughter Kiku, from what I understand there was a fight and Kiku was killed as a result. I'm assuming that Rento committed suicide shortly after because he felt guilty, that's all I could find" Yasu finished.

"That would explain the female spirit that Masako felt." John said

"Right so if we've got the female spirit and the suicidal dad who is the ghost that attacked Ayako and Masako yesterday?" Monk asked

"Well I have a theory about that" Yasu chimed in, "I think it's the young man who Kiku was in love with. I was able to find this" pulling out an old piece of newspaper Yasu sat it down in front of the group, DEAD BODY OF WORKER FOUND the headline read. The article is very short but the just of it was that the body of a young worker was found in the factory days after Kiku died and get this he was found with his chest ripped open and missing half of his arm." The group sat in silence for a few moments digesting the information.

"So what's the plan then?" Monk asked

"I think the best course of action would be for Lin to try communicating with Kiku so that we can find out exactly what happened, while we are setting that up John and Monk I want you to do a walkthrough and take temperature readings again and everyone else stay here and help prepare." Monk and John made their way out of the base room.

"Hey Naru, remember that room that we couldn't get in to the other day? Well it's open now" Monk shouted from outside the door. Naru and the crew made their way outside and into the room. The retched smell made Monk gag "What is that smell? It smells like a corpse"

"You've got that right" Yasu said inspecting the room "Although I can't see anything that would cause that sort of smell"

"Masako!" John shouted, the group turned round to see Masako crouched on the floor with her head in her hands.

"He's so sad, so so so sad" she screamed "I DIDN'T MEAN TO KILL HER, IT WASN'T MY FAULT. FORGIVE ME KIKU" a voice ripped out of Masako that wasn't hers and she then fell, John caught her before she hit the ground. Ayako then ran to the mediums side.

"She's just fainted, John bring her back to base with me please"

"I'm guessing that was Rento, do you think this is where he killed himself?" Yasu asked

"It would explain the horrible smell" Monk said

"Change of plans, John I want you to perform an exorcism in this room while we wait for Masako to wake up."

"No problem Naru" John said and left to go and get ready. Monk, Lin, Naru and Yasu continued to look around the dark room. Yasu approached the file cabinets and started to rake through everything.

Monk approached the desk "I guess it was definitely Kiku's father there are a lot of photo graphs of the two of them here" he said

"Look at this!" Yasu said waving around the letter Mai had found earlier, opening it he read the message. "Okay so Kiku was going to elope with Daiki but she was killed before they had the chance?"

"Yeah that would explain why she is here" Monk said

2 hours later…

The group had moved into the sealed room to sit with John while he performed the exorcism. Masako was left in the base to rest.

John stood in the middle of the room and started ' _In the beginning was the word, and the word was God_ _'_ the lights started to flicker and crying could be heard in the background, this continued through the whole exorcism until John had finished.

"Do you think that's him gone then?" Ayako asked

"We won't know for certain until we get rid of the other spirits as well" Monk said. The group moved back into the base room with Masako.

"How are you feeling Masako?" John asked

"Better thanks John"

"Lin I'd like you to try spirit invocation for Miss Kiku since we have all the data about her that we need, are you ready?" Naru asked Lin nodded in agreement and moved out onto the factory floor. Once they were on the factory floor the group stood back as Lin attempted to raise Kiku, the air around the group changed and there was a soft almost music like sound coming from where Lin had set up a table with everything he needed on it, the candle on the table cast a soft glow around the room giving the machinery an eerie glow.

A glowing started to appear in front of the table, it started to take shape until Kiku from the old photographs stood in front of them.

"Do you know where you are?" Naru asked, Kiku nodded her head in response

"Do you know that you're dead?" again Kiku nodded in response her black hair falling over her face.

"What happened to you?" Naru asked

Kiku blinked and moved her gaze over to the cutting machine, "That's what happened to me. Ever since I was little it was just me and my dad, my dad owned this whole factory as it was passed down to him from his father and his father before him and so on. He was always a kind and caring man that was until he found out about Daiki. I met him one day when I was visiting my father at work, I hated coming to this factory it was dirty, smelly and too loud for my taste but I'd always visit my father at work, I was on my way when I ran into Daiki and I knew that I would love him forever. We of course had to hide our relationship from the world because of our statuses but eventually it became too much to tolerate and we decided to run away and start a new life somewhere else. Of course I didn't want to leave my father but he wouldn't understand no one did. A few days before we were due to leave my father somehow found out about us and he went crazy start screaming and shouting, he locked me in my room and told me that I'd stay in there until he took care of it. I managed to get out of the room eventually and ran straight here but my dad was already yelling at Daiki. I tried to stop him but he was so angry and then he attacked Daiki, I ran to his aid and lost my footing as Daiki fell, the next thing I knew I was dead. Stuck in this horrid place until I can find Daiki again." Pausing Kiku turned her gaze away from the machine and looked directly into Naru's eyes "Do you know how it feels to be so desperately in love with someone that you would give up everything just to be with them? Because that is what I felt. All we wanted to do was start a new life together" tears started to fall down her face "being stuck here like this, it makes you go mad. I didn't mean to kill that old man or the other young boy, I don't know how it happened but I'm losing control of myself. Please you have to stop me. Please!" She sobbed and faded away into the background.

The atmosphere chilled and candle went out.

"Well I guess we know what happened to Kiku then" Monk said

"How are we meant to cleanse her?" John asked

"I think we have to deal with our spirit in the work uniform first, I'm guessing that that is Daiki. Work on finding out as much about him and how he died while myself and Lin look into cleansing Kiku" with that Naru marched to the base while the rest of the group made their way to investigate some of the files.

Two days later…

Mai was still perched on her hiding spot watching the gang run around trying to find information, she'd been waiting until they left and been looking around but found very little herself. The gang were beginning to get frustrated without any more clues or incidents to go on. "There has to be something in this room" Monk complained while looking for more clues in the sealed room

"We've been looking for 2 days straight Monk, surely we would have found something by now" Yasu stated while going through the fill cabinet for the 4th time. Monk was inspecting the desk, "hey do you hear that?" Yasu asked

"Hear what?" Monk said while moving over to the cabinet, Yasu pushed the cabinet over slightly and a rattling came from inside. "What is that?"

"I'm not sure I think it's coming from the bottom though, help me tip it over to see" Monk and Yasu moved the filling cabinet so it now lay on its side. "Well look at that" Yasu said while pulling a very thin box out, he opened it to reveal a small key "Any idea what that opens?" Yasu asked

"No idea but let's report to Naru to see what he thinks" Monk said as the pair made their way to base.

Holding the key up to the light Naru inspected it "this sort of key would have been used for desk drawers, books and special boxes judging from its size" He walked past the group to the old wooden desk, running his hands along the front of the withered wood he pulled out the top drawer, lifting it out he tipped it upside down to get rid of its contents. He then placed the drawer down "most of these old desks came with built in compartments to hide special documents" while speaking he used the key to unlocked and remove a wooden panel from the bottom of the drawer. He then proceeded to pull out a small leather bound book, flicking it open the front page read property of Rento Takahashi.

"What does it say Naru?" Yasu asked

"It appears to be the journal of Mr Takahashi. 'Dear Kiku, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen. You have to forgive me. It was an accident you weren't meant to die. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for Daiki to be killed either but I couldn't stop them. The workers and the townspeople they blamed him for your death, you were so loved here. I couldn't stop them by the time I got to the factory it was alright too late to save him. They killed him, sliced his chest open and ripped off part of his arm in the struggle. I should have saved him, I should have saved you. I was weak. Please forgive me Kiku….' The rest of the page is too damaged to read" Naru finished. The group sat in silence for a few moments.

"So let me get this straight" Ayako started "Kiku was killed by accident when trying to stop her father, Daiki was murdered by the factory workers as revenge and Rento committed suicide from guilt."

"That sounds about right to me" Monk said

"So it was Daiki that attacked me in the storage room then? How do we get rid of him?" Ayako asked

"The uniform and the photo appear to be what ties him here, if we purify them with fire it should set him free and since we haven't heard anything since John exorcised Rento's room we can assume he has also moved on" Naru finished "I want everyone to go back to the hotel for tonight and rest for tomorrow's purification. We'll be finishing here tomorrow"

Next day at 9am…

Monk stood outside with the work uniform and Daiki's photograph, the rest of the group sat waiting in the base room. "Start now Monk" Naru said, Monk started chanting over the items while purifying them with fire. Everything seemed to go off smoothly, Monk returned to the base room in his robes.

"Not too bad even if I do say so myself" Monk said while stretching out on one of the chairs

"Yeah you were finally of some use" Ayako said

"Well at least I haven't just sat filling my nails the whole time"

"Go bald, old man!"

"Hag"

"Now now you two let's see what our next move is, Naru?" John the peace bringer said

"Monk I want you to perform another exorcism on the guillotine being the object that caused her death I believe that's what ties her to this world. With Daiki gone and her father no longer here either she should move on without any issues. John and Masako I want you to accompany Monk downstairs. Monk nodded and left the room.

Downstairs…

Monk stood in front of the guillotine while John and Masako stayed behind him "Rin, Pyou, Tou…." A wailing noise echoed through the factory as the equipment came to life. Kiku started to appear in front of Monk

"Give him back, give him back to me" She screamed, throwing herself past Monk she slammed into Masako. John moved to help her but was thrown to the ground along with Monk. Holding Masako against the wall "Why do you get to be happy?! Why should you get to be in love while we had to suffer?!" before Masako could respond her was picked up and thrown onto the conveyer belt, struggling against the invisible force her hands and legs were pinned to the belt as she saw the blade moving up and down ahead of her.

"MASAKO" the rest of the group rattled down the stairs, Lin whistled for his Shiki but Kiku managed to stop them from helping Masako. A scream came out of her throat as the group stood frozen in shock at the other side of the factory as she inched closer and closer to the blade, just before her head had reached the end there was another piercing scream and the factory started to shake. Beams came crashing down around the conveyer belt creating a cloud of dust, through the cloud of dust the gang gasped. A masked figure stood above Masako, unable to make much out through the cloud all Naru could see was red eyes.

Mai's P.O.V

Mai stood above Masako, she had been able to stop Kiku temporarily to prevent Masako from losing her head. Bending down she grabbed Masako around the waist and hurdled her towards Monk to catch, Monk was sent flying backwards with Masako in his arms. The group stood staring at Mai 'somethings not right here' Mai thought…

That's when she heard it the same creaking from before, snapping her head upwards she realised where the beams were going to fall, right on top of Naru. Before she could even register what she was doing she launched herself off the belt and ran straight for him. The next few moments seemed to pass in slow motion, there she was in front of him again. In front of those same indigo eyes she'd fallen in love with, those same eyes that had helped her so many times, those same eyes that had cut her so deep. As Naru blinked Mai drew her hand back and with as much force as she could use without injuring him she connected her open palm with his chest causing him to go flying backwards. A split second later she sprang back as the metal beam came crashing down in front of them creating a barrier of dust.

Before Mai could collect herself she was slammed onto the conveyer belt, coughing as she tried to sit up only to be slammed back down 'oh hell no' she thought. She started to summon her powers as Kiku took form in front of her, blood covered her kimono and her eyes were bloodshot and angry, screaming she jumped at Mai. Mai sprang up slamming Kiku into the conveyer belt "give him back!" she screamed.

"He's no longer here. You have to move on!" Mai said as Kiku lashed out and slashed Mai's arm where it'd been cut open the other day, Mai let out a howl of pain and grabbed her arm hissing through her teeth "You'll pay for that"

"We've got to help whoever the hell that is" Monk yelled at the group from across the room

Mai turned around "Stay the hell out of my way" she screamed at them as she threw herself at Kiku. She pulled an iron chain from her belt and wrapped it around Kiku's neck, pulling her backwards along the conveyer belt "sorry but your time is up". Using some of her inhuman strength Mai turned and flipped Kiku over with her landing face first, Kiku screamed one last time as the blade came down on her neck.

Immediately everything came to a crashing halt, the machines stopped, the lights came back on and the air felt clearer. The group still frozen at the other end of the factory heard as Kiku's voice echoed "Thanks for stopping me"

"Whoa" Monk said, while Mai planned out her next move.

"Your arm is bleeding you'll need to bandage that up" Ayako said from across the room, she moved around to help when Naru held up his arm to stop her.

"Who are you? What is your purpose here?"

Mai snorted 'typical Naru no thanks or manners just straight to the point' "I'm the person who just saved her" pointing to Masako "and your life or was your narcissistic head too far up your ass to see that?! Oh and next time you get in my way you better make sure you've got your will sorted out because I won't be as friendly." Launching herself off the machine she grabbed her bag and made her way to the door, "I'm assuming you can clean up the mess you've made here" she said as she left.

General P.O.V

"What…what just happened?" Monk blinked, before anyone could say anything Naru's head snapped round.

"Masako do you feel anything?"

"No I can no longer sense anymore spirits" Masako said

"We're done here" Naru said as he stormed up the stairs to base.

"Great this is going to be a fun journey home" Monk said as the group started to get ready to leave.

 ** _Reunion – Case 1 – End_**

 ** _Authors Note: Thank you so much for sticking with me through this first case! I've really enjoyed writing this case, I've got loads of more ideas that will be with you shortly._** **** ** _I hope you liked it and stay in tune for the next case!_**


	7. Chapter 7 Waves Part 1

_**I don't own ghost hunt! I wish I did so I can't take any credit for the characters that come straight from the books.**_

 **Ghost hunt - Case 2 – Waves**

Mai P.O.V

The rain was coming down heavier as Mai sped through the forest hillsides of Shikoku, the journey had been uneventful and dull so far. She was headed to an old beach resort that had some recent activity, 3 children's bodies had been washed up at the cliff edge where the resort was located, of course all 3 hadn't been found at the same time but over the course of two years. As usual the local police had concluded the children had wandered off and accidentally drowned in the white-water rapids but Mai had seen small patterns like this before.

Mai slowed down on her motorbike as she came into the town, the rain had also slowed down and was all but a drizzle now. Mai thought about the last case, when the hell had Naru decided to come back to Japan and of all the cases to end up on why did it have to be the same one as them. Thankfully they hadn't realised it was her and she only had to reveal herself in the last few moments to stop Masako losing her head.

She stopped her bike at the low point where the forest broke away to the thin sandy beach, the sun was just setting and through her helmet everything gave off a pinkish purple glow. She snorted 'it's always the most beautiful places that have the worst demons'. Starting up the bike again she sped off towards the resort that was located in a small clearing in the forest, pulling into the drive way it was clear why this place would be great for a holiday Mai thought. The resort was perched near the cliff edge and had beautiful forest all around it. There were several walkways down towards the beach below, hot springs off to the side and what must have been hundreds of walkways through all the trees.

The resort/hotel itself was a 3 story inn that had a classic beach look to it, surf boards and water skis were park out front and there were several windows on the 2nd and 3rd floor which appeared to be the rooms, however the place was silent, no music or conversation could be heard and at this time of day with the sunset so beautiful it was strange.

Mai parked her bike on the clearing edge under some trees which was off to the side of the resort. 'Alright let's find out what the hell is going on here' Mai thought to herself.

Naru's P.O.V

 _Shibuya Psychic Research Office_

Naru slammed his folder onto his desk 'Damn it, who the hell was that?!' He thought angrily, Naru couldn't believe the cheek that woman had had on the last case they were on, never in his life had he been so mortified or spoken to in that manner and to make it worse she wouldn't tell him her name or even what she looked like because of that stupid mask. He'd spent every other waking moment trying to figure out who she was and he'd came up with nothing…not a single thing. Frustrated he ran his hand through his dark hair. "Oliver that's the team here for prep" Lin said popping his head round Narus door.

"I'll be out in a minute" Naru grunted in reply

Snatching the files off of his desk Naru stormed out of the office. Walking over to the table where most of his employees were, "What's up boss man?" chimed Yasu which was received by a scowl.

"Wooowwww someones in a bad mood today" Monk said

"Well you would be too if you the GREAT Oliver Davis had to have help on your first case back from some mystery woman" Ayako sniggered

"If you would all stop this pointless conversation I have news about our next case" Naru said. "We've been asked by owners of a beach resort in Shikoku to investigate activity believed to be of supernatural nature. Over the past 2 years there have been 3 children's bodies washed up onto the beach just outside of the resort, the police of course think it is coincidental and that the children were killed by the rapids that surround the island. The owners have asked us to investigate to rule out any activity as it has been scaring away customers. We'll leave tomorrow morning, be here at 7 sharp, any questions?" The team all stayed silent knowing better than to question Naru when he was in this fowl a mood. "See you all tomorrow then" picking up his papers he stalked back into his office and slammed the door.

"He really is in a bad mood" Monk said

"Yeah, I think that girl in the last case riled his feathers the wrong way" Yasu said

"I don't think he likes the competition or that someone might know better than him…you know what his ego is like" Masako said

"well we'll just have to see what happens if they run into each other again" John said….

Mai P.O.V

Walking into the resort Mai could feel the heavy atmosphere that filled the room, it was as if someone had draped a dark blanket over the whole place, it felt heavy. She went over to the reception desk, from the layer of dust and number of keys that were hanging up it was obvious that there weren't any other guests staying. Slipping off her helmet she rang the bell on the desk, after a few minutes of silence an elderly woman appeared behind the desk. "Oh hello, didn't expect to have any customers tonight…"

"I'd like a room for one person, I don't have a reservation so I hope that won't be an issue" Mai said politely, she was exhausted from the drive and wanted to get the pleasantries over and done with as soon as possible. It was a shame, she used to love meeting new people and going new places even if it was for investigating but after that incident 3 years ago her patience for people and places had run thin.

"No problem at all Missy… Room for one coming up. I'll put you on the 2nd floor in room 12. How will you be paying for this Miss…..?"

"Crimson and by cash if that is alright"

"Crimson what an unusual name, how long do you want to stay for?"

"I'm not sure yet, I can pay for 2 weeks stay upfront just now" Mai said, offering this much cash in one go usually worked to stop owners asking too many questions.

"of…of course! You are welcome to stay as long as you want. Please let me show you to your room. That's a very strange mask you have there, is it for health reasons?" The old lady's brown eyes grew wide as she asked

"Yes it's for health stuff, I'll not bore you with the details" Mai hated wearing the mask but it was easier for covering her eyes when she used her powers. Normally she would adjust the bottom half so she was just wearing sunglasses but she forgot to once she took her helmet off.

"I hope it isn't anything too serious" The old woman said casting a glance back at her. Mai followed her up an old flight of stairs that came out at the very end of a long hall way. "Each room has its own bathroom, kettle and mini fridge. If there is anything else you need please feel free to ask" The woman handed Mai the key and then turned around and left, her long grey hair swaying behind her.

'Alright it appears to be a fairly simple structure' Mai thought, the corridor was simple with 7 rooms on either side of the narrow hallway and the stairs at one end. The corridor was very basic with light wood floors and walls, a few rugs dotted the hallway and some simple photos of waves were hung on the walls. Unlocking the door Mai stepped into her room, it was a pretty standard room, faded pink and white wallpaper decorated the room with the same wooden floor that was in the hall, white furniture sat in the room and there was a plain double bed squished in as well. A layer of dust covered the dresser and there was a stale smell in the air, 'obviously not been used in a while' Mai thought as she walked over to the dresser to dump her bag down. To exhausted from the drive to even get changed or stake out the place she fell onto the bed, the only thing that hadn't changed was her ability to sleep anywhere, a trait that use to drive her friends crazy. Slowly she drifted off into a deep sleep.

Naru's P.O.V

Ayako let out yet another sigh from the back of the van "it had to be Shikoku, we've been on the road for 8 hours! Surely we have to be close by now?"

"We'll be there within the next hour" Lin replied

Huffing Ayako said "another thing I don't understand is why the five of us had to travel in this cramped van with the equipment"

"Masako is held up by work until tomorrow so Monk had to stay behind to drive himself and her over here" Naru stated bluntly

"Ayako next time make sure your car isn't in the garage so we don't have to travel with Mr Chuckles and Mr Grumpy up front there" Yasu said, Ayako snorted while Naru glared in the mirror and Lin just pretended he didn't hear anything.

"Since you are so bored Ayako, I'll run over some of the basics we know about the inn. It was opened in the 1700's to accompany the increasing visiting workers who were making their way to the Besshi copper mines. The inn has changed hands several times and is currently owned by the Ikeda couple who have been living there for over 50 years. The owners have reported that there has been some strange activity over the past 2 years, lights flickering on and off, furniture moving on its own and recently the bodies that washed up on the beach outside" Naru finished

"Are we thinking poltergeist?" Yasu asked

"The actions inside the inn could be but the dead children wouldn't be explained by that" John replied

"Well given the long history of the building it could be any number of things; however why would it just have started killing children now?" Ayako said

"We'll start with the basics once we get there. The inn should be completely empty and the owners have given us all our own rooms, however I want everyone to be careful about being alone when we get there." Naru said, he didn't like the feeling of this case, something didn't sit right with him about the disturbances both inside and outside of the inn, usually spirits stick to one setting but being able to switch between the two was concerning. The group in the back continued to discuss theories as Naru watched the scenery slip by his mind was still trying to fit pieces together about the last case, red eyes flashed in front of his face making him jump in his seat. Turning to see if anyone noticed he saw Lin give him a small look, "has there been any word about Mai yet?" he asked.

This caused the group in the back to go silent "No" Lin replied, Naru just nodded and turned his head away. Something was not right at all…

Mai's P.O.V

 _Flashback_

 _Panting Mai ran through the streets, her school uniform was stuck to her sides with sweat and rain. Huffing she could hear the echo of her feet against the ground and her heaving breathing. "You can't escape from me Mai…You know I'll find you wherever you go…you can only run for so long" the dark voice echoed behind her. She turned on her heel and pushed herself to keep running, trying not to look back at what was chasing her. It had to have followed her from the lake that was the only explanation. Running through the park she skidded and slipped over the wet grass, her feet pounded as she fled, she didn't know what it wanted but she knew if it caught her it was over, just then her foot caught on something and she was sent flying to the ground. Letting out a howl of pain as she tried to get up it was obvious that she had managed to break her ankle, suddenly a cold breeze swept around her, tears sprung to her eyes and she let out a sob before slowly turning around. "Found you" was the last thing Mai heard before all she felt was blinding pain._


	8. Chapter 8 Waves Part 2

**_Author's notes. Hi everyone! I hope you are all enjoying a New Start so far, sorry it has taken so long for case 2 to appear, I have a few days off from work so are hoping to have the rest of this case up and finished soon! Please let me know what you think and if there is anything you don't particularly like, this is my first proper story so reviews are welcome._**

 ** _I don't own ghost hunt or its characters!_**

 ** _Enjoy!_**

Mai jumped straight up in bed, sweat covered her body and she felt her heart beating hard inside her chest. It had been a long time since she'd had a dream about what happened to her 3 years ago. She swung her legs out of the bed and grabbed a fresh change of clothes, pulling her clothes off she went to get a shower, the hot water helped her to ease her constant aching muscles. Standing in front of the mirror she looked at herself, her wet hair looked almost black and reached her waist, her eyes were looking more red than brown which happened when she was tired or had dreams. Her scar was also turning blood red rather than its usual pale pink, which hadn't happened before, thankfully her tinted glasses were big enough to cover the whole scar. She pulled on her black vest top, tight black jeans, sunglasses and her belt where she kept her hunting knife, she kept her hair down so that it would distract anyone she ran into, although at this time of night and with there being no other guests here it would be unlikely. She left her room and took a walk around the inn to get familiar with the surroundings, she decided that she would have a look at the sea that ran around the island so proceeded to walk outside, the moonlight came down over the water and the trees casting shadows all over the place. She made her way through the woods and around the hiking trails, the night was silent. Mai noticed that there were no noises except the running water which for a nature trail was strange, there should have been various sounds from insects, owls and other animals that were local to the area.

After 2 hours of hiking around looking for clues or signs of anything Mai had found nothing, nothing but dirty mud tracks and cold air. Giving up she decided to head back to the inn, if there was anything living in the water she obviously wasn't going to find it tonight. She walked back up the trail that led to the inn only to be stopped by the black van she knew all too well, moving slowly around the side of it she knew exactly who it belonged to SPR. Twice! Twice she'd managed to run into them on cases now, talk about bad luck. She thought about packing up and leaving as she made her way back into the inn but once Mai started a job she liked to finish it, especially when there were potential spirits drowning children. Walking through to the end of the inn she could hear noise coming from the kitchen, hoping that it would be one of the inn owners that could shed some light on what had happened.

Peering around the door Mai saw Miss Ikeda standing watching out the kitchen window. "I see you also don't sleep well" the old lady turned to Mai "Is there something I can help you with dear?"

"Actually yes, I have some questions about the inn and the history surrounding this land" Mai said bluntly

"I see. We'll since this might be a long conversation why don't I make us some tea first?" Mai nodded in response, as Miss Ikeda started to make the tea Mai thought about what she wanted to ask her

"Miss Ikeda"

"Hisa please, I have a feeling these are going to be very strange questions so it might be easier to stay on a first name basis" She said while sticking the tea pot over the stove

"Miss… I mean Hisa how long have you owned this inn?"

"ohh roughly about 50 years"

"Do you know how old the building is?"

"from what I know it was built during the Edo period, of course the structure today has been built upon and changed" she replied as she poured out tea for them. "Before I answer any more questions, may I ask why you have sunglasses on at this time of night?"

Mai sighed she had expected this, from time to time on cases the owners of buildings felt uncomfortable because she wore her face covered, people usually liked to read others facial cues which was harder when you had your face covered. "It might be easier just to show you" Mai proceeded to take her glasses off to reveal the scar on her face

"Oh my, that does look nasty, how did you end up with that?"

"It was from an accident a few years ago" Mai said

"Oh well sorry to ask you about it" Hisa said

"It's no problem" Mai said

"What else did you want to ask me about?" Hisa asked

"How did you become owners of this place?"

"It was passed down through a few generations I believe. My great grandparents got ownership from a friend of theirs and before that I believe it changed hands a few times"

Mai nodded trying to figure out how many possible owners and previous incidents could have taken place to cause an angry spirit. "In all the years you've worked here have you ever noticed anything strange? Lights flickering on and off, cold spots, things being moved on their own, that sort of thing?"

"Interesting you should ask about that, we've had a few of those incidents in the past 2 years but nothing serious, except for the bodies of those children." Hisa stated

"Could you tell me a bit more about them?" Mai asked

"Of course, it started about 2 years ago with the discovery of the first body, a very young child 2 or 3 I believe was her age, her parents were staying here for a few nights and were outside having a picnic on the beach when they noticed she had gone, by the time they found her she was washed up on the beach, such a shame" Hisa continued

"What about the other 2 bodies found?"

"Both of the other children were around the same age, two young girls who were outside playing and then the next minute disappeared and washed up on the beach the next day"

"I know this must be uncomfortable for you to talk about, was there anything else going on when the first child was discovered? Anything being done to the building or perhaps outside?"

"Why would that have anything to do with the bodies?" Hisa asked

"I know it's a strange question but I'm very interested in this inn" Mai said

"Well I don't know if it counts as eventful but at the time we were trying to renovate the attic to create more room, we had to take down an existing wall and found very old belongings that have been here for years. We haven't had a chance to look through any of them as I struggle to get up the ladder with my hips" she finished taking a sip of her tea

"Do you have any more information about the land or the inn?" Mai asked

"The only other thing I can tell you is that this inn has had a long history and more than a few skeletons hidden in the closets, at least that's what my grandmother use to tell me" finishing her drink Mai stood up to put the cup in the sink

"I'll do that" Hisa took the cup from her "I think you should get to bed, it's not healthy for a young lady to be up wandering around at all hours of the night"

Mai smiled "Thanks and thanks for the information"

"Anytime dear, it's been so long since we've had any guests" Mai nodded and continued to head to her bedroom, it was always a shame when honest people were targeted by ghosts, people who were bastards had it coming. She remembered a case where this stuck up woman had killed her husband in cold blood and dissolved his body in a bath tub of bleach, she sworn up and down to the police that he'd ran off with a mistress but Mai could see his spirit wandering around the apartment block, people like that deserved all they got.

Looking at the time it was 4am, if last cases were anything to go on Lin would still be up monitoring the cameras while the rest of the group staying sleeping for another 2 hours. Mai had noticed that there were only a few cameras dotted around the inn, judging from the van only half of the group was here and they must have arrived late for the lack of surveillance. Deciding she still had two hours left Mai made her way up to the second floor to try and find the attic, from what Miss Ikeda had said something had been disturbed in the renovation and triggered the deaths. Mai found herself at the end of the corridor taking her torch out she scanned the walls and found a hatch just above her. 'Must be the entrance', she dragged an old set of drawers over to the spot and jumped up on top of them, pushing the wooden plank aside she stuck her head up through the attic hole, scanning her torch around it seemed to be normal looking. She held her torch with her mouth and pulled herself up into the attic, clouds of dust and cobwebs attacked her pushing past she walked slowly around old boxes filled with Christmas decorations, old books, clothes and everything you'd expect to find. Reaching the far side Mai noticed a small hole in the wall, 'must have been the wall that was getting taken down for renovations' peering in you could tell it had been sealed for at least a few hundred years, the air was stale and reeked of damp. The room looked like it used to be an old bedroom with a small futon and tiny writing desk. Mai struggled to get herself through the broken wall but once she was there she moved straight over to the futon, flipping over the mattress there was nothing to be found then she moved over to the desk pulling out one of the drawers revealed an old book. Mai picked the book up, the front read Matsu Okuda, she opened it up to see it was all written in Kansai, an older dialect from the Edo period. 'Great this is going to take ages to translate' she thought, holding onto the diary Mai made her way back to her room.

Group's P.O.V

9am the next day

The group had been busy setting up the base properly while waiting for Monk and Masako to arrive later in the afternoon.

"Ayako did you and John take the temperature readings of the inn?" Naru asked

"Yes we did, we got all rooms expect one which apparently has a guest in it who arrived yesterday" Ayako responded, Naru nodded in response

"I'd like to start interviewing Mr and Miss Ikeda and then perform hypnotic suggestion" Naru stated

A few hours later…

The group was sprawled around the base room, Monk and Masako had joined them about half an hour ago and were helping to rake through information about the case.

"Did you get any important information from the owners?" Monk asked

"Not anything we didn't already know, Edo period house, it's been broken and rebuilt so many times along with switching over owners. There hasn't been any strange incidents outside of the past two years that they are aware of. As for the dead children all three were with guests here at the time" Yasu filled Monk in

"Okay so all we know is that there is a connection between the inn and the beach" Monk said

"What about when the renovation started?" Ayako asked

"Well that's where the trail runs cold, the inn was very popular a few years ago and the owners decided to renovate the attic to make space for more rooms and to take on more staff. According to Miss Ikeda they were looking into the attic and had to take down an existing wall to make space, as soon as part of the wall was broken they found an old bedroom that had very old belongings in it. The owners decided to stop until they had cleared the old room out but the next day was when the first body was found, after they had less and less customers so the renovation was cancelled." Yasu finished. The group sat in silence trying to connect all the dots together.

"Is that all the information we have?" Monk asked

"For now, being this far out there isn't a very large community around so it'll take a few days to trying and find other sources. There should be a library or local community hub around here somewhere that might have some more information." Yasu said

"What about the other guest? Have they experienced anything since arriving here?"

"Apparently, she arrived the night before us and the owners haven't seen her around since. Miss Ikeda described her as a loner with a weird mask" Naru stated

"Hey you don't think it could be the same woman that was at the factory?" Ayako asked

"Naru" Lin said and the group turned their heads "It looks like Miss Ikeda is making her way to the base with the guest".

Mai's P.O.V

Mai had woken up about an hour ago and had tried scanning through the diary she found but the language made her head spin and was going to take a while to translate, that was if it was anything useful at all. She rolled off the bed and stretched before pulling on her mask and boots, she decided to have another look around the inn and attic.

Back in the attic she pulled out all the drawers on the old desk, over turned the bed, scanned through the boxes and couldn't find a damn thing…not a damn thing. Sighing she put the stuff back and jumped down onto the 2nd floor. The wood creaked underneath her shoes, 'maybe I've missed something, it had to be either inside the house or lying at the bottom of the water' she thought to herself. She couldn't sense any spirits in the house so whatever was happening must be in the water. She was shaken out of her thoughts by someone shouting her

"Miss Crimson! Could I have a word with you?" Miss Ikeda shouted down the hallway

"Of course" 'Great what does she want' Mais questions the other day had obviously tipped Miss Ikeda off that she was doing more than staying for the view. Approaching her Mai noticed that she looked nervous

"If you wouldn't mind following me" Mai walked slowly behind her, she hadn't realised how much taller she was now as she towered over the older lady, walking down the stairs and along the corridor they stopped at the door across from reception, as she opened the door she saw something that she had been desperately trying to avoid, SPR.

"Sorry for the intrusion but I wanted to talk to everyone" Mai felt all eyes on her

Group's P.O.V

After another unsuccessful night trying to detangle the history of the inn the group was resting in base, Naru and Lin were busy typing on the laptops and looking at the cameras while Masako and Ayako sat reading notes, Monk was spread out on one of the couches trying to avoid falling asleep while John and Yasu were bouncing ideas off each other. They heard a small knock at the door before Miss Ikeda appeared "sorry for the intrusion but I wanted to talk to everyone" she gestured towards the figure behind her. The woman stood in all black with a strange mask that appeared to clasp around her neck, tinted glasses were attached to the top and plain black leather covered the bottom of her face, long crimson hair stretched down to hips, she had on a tank top, jean jacket, tight jeans, black biker gloves and heavy leather boots. She had pale skin and her long thin arms were perched on her hips where an accessories belt held several different items.

Mai's P.O.V

Time seemed to stand still while Mai stood in the doorway everyone looked the same as they had on the last case but in the daylight Mai could see the real changes that she'd missed over the past 3 years. Monk's hair was longer and he'd gained a few wrinkles around the corners of his eyes, Ayako was wearing less make up but certainly didn't look any less glamourous. John had grown taller but his bright blue eyes were filled with warmth, Lin just looked like Lin and Naru had grown up into a breath-taking man, with his dark hair and eyes he probably had to beat girls off with a stick.

Shattering out of the illusion her mind was creating she let her eyes skim quickly around the rest of the room while she decided how to go about this. Luckily she still had her mask on so they wouldn't recognise her, especially given the changes in her appearance as well. She stood completely still while Miss Ikeda walked into the middle of the group.

"Miss Crimson this is SPR, SPR this is Miss Crimson. I've brought you all here because I believe you are all working on the same goal and sharing information might be more useful to you. I'm not sure what your procedures are but it might help." With that she shuffled around Mai and left the room.

'Thanks for that, you old bat' Mai thought 'you've dropped me in it now'. Monk was the first person to approach Mai and offer a hand "Miss Crimson? I'm Hosho Takigawa" Mai took Monks hand and shook it then sidestepped around him to the middle of the room. 'Interesting set up, same as always' she ignored the rest of the group while taking in the room, she scanned past the equipment to try and figure the layout of the room. She hadn't been able to find much else in the rest of the inn but there might have been something hidden in here. Before getting too lost in her search she stopped and snapped her head back around to the group, with her back to the bay window that overlooked the water she decided to play the lone wolf card.

"I work alone" she turned her gaze directly on Naru, although with her sunglasses on it was unlikely that he'd see it. "I'll stay out of your way and you stay out of mine" with that she started to make her way towards the door but a voice stopped her as she walked past the back of the couch.

"Were you…were you the one who was at the Steel works?" the voice came from Masako but it wasn't a Masako Mai had ever known, her voice was weak and she looked pale and fragile in her kimono. Dark circles were under her eyes and she looked like she hadn't slept in weeks, in fact none of them looked like they'd slept well.

"It was"

Masako nodded her kimono sleeve over her face "thank you, you saved me…you saved all of us"

Mai just nodded in response, the atmosphere was making her head spin and all the unresolved issues were bubbling under the surface of her skin trying to claw their way out. It made her jumpy and when she got too nervous she tended to lose control of her powers and there was no telling what she might do. She decided to make a break for the door, just as her hand landed on the handle she felt a grip on her arm. Slowly as she turned her head she could see that it belonged to the one person in the room she was trying to avoid, Naru. His face was inches from hers, indigo eyes that looked wild rather than the calm she had seen, she could see the dark circles forming under his eyes and feel his breath on her face, his hair which was longer now was messy and all the baby fat around his face had gone. They both just starred at each other, until Monk coughed in the back ground, Naru seemed to gain some reality back.

"Who are you?" he asked. As he said this he loosened his grip on her arm and readjusted his stance but then his hand took grip on her wrist. Suddenly the skin on skin contact was too much for Mai. An explosion of feelings all came rushing at her guilt, loneliness, longing, fear, anger, sadness, terror, they smashed into Mai and she inhaled sharply. Finally there was a blinding light and one image was in front of her eyes, the lake.

As fast as it had happened it stopped and she was back in the base room, she turned to Naru who was also standing panting and ripped his hand away from her wrist. "Did you just…"

"I told you I work alone" She spat before slamming the door open so hard it snapped both of the hinges, she was down the hallway and halfway up the stairs before she heard the group ask Naru what was going on.


	9. Chapter 9 Waves Part 3

_**Author's note: Hey everyone! Hope you are all enjoying this one so far because I had a lot of fun writing this case, this chapter is a slightly longer one but I hope you like it! I don't own Ghost Hunt! Thanks for reading**_

Naru P.O.V

Naru stood in shock staring at the now broken door, his head was still clouded with feelings and the image of the lake where they found Gene.

"What the hell was that about?" Monk asked

"It would appear as if our mystery guest has some PK talents of her own" was all Naru said

"Not just PK but also some serious physical strength in her given the state of the door" Monk said

"Let's just focus on our own issues right now. Yasu I'd like you to keep researching the history of not just the inn but the land and the sea surrounding it. Miss Hara and Ayako I'd like you to do another walk through to see if you can sense anything. Monk and John I'd like you to try performing exorcisms in each of the rooms, myself and Lin will stay here to monitor the cameras." The group dispersed in response to start each of their jobs.

Mai's P.O.V

Mai slammed the door to her room shut, her heart was racing along with her mind. Images of the past 3 years were slamming into her skull, blood, death, rage, anger, loss, hurt, pain, betrayal everything was coming back. She felt suffocated, clutching her head she stumbled and fell on the way to the bathroom, doubling over in pain she felt like her head was going to explode, she looked up at the mirror in the bathroom and she could see something was wrong. Her eyes were blood red and now leaking, she started seeing images of herself but also her past self when she was 16 fade in and out, her vision blurred again and all she could feel was hot red rage. **_CRACK_** her fist connected to the mirror shattering it into pieces, blood splashed out of her hand before she collapsed over the toilet where she then threw up until she was sore. Panting she rested her head on the side of bath, 'why did that have to happen' she thought. All of the ways she had thought about seeing the old gang again not once did she plan on it becoming a huge scene. What had Naru done to her? One touch and she was turned into a wreck, she had read somewhere that if two beings that have PK are conflicted with each other and in close range it can have all sorts of consequences. Which is what must have happened, given the unresolved issues Mai felt and the power she held coming into close mental and physical range of Naru who had his own power PK must have sparked something. Mai hated this feeling, the helplessness and emptiness she hadn't felt it in so long but it was always there, that's why she dove into the spirit world she might not have been able to help herself over the year after Naru left but she was determined to help others and those stuck between the two worlds. Pulling herself up off the bathroom floor she decided to go to bed, she lay down on the old quilt and tried to focus her breathing after a few minutes she slowly drifted off.

 ** _Dreamworld_**

Opening her eyes Mai found herself in the spirit plane, it had been a few weeks since her last encounter with Gene so she was hoping that this one would be more pleasant. Sitting up she looked around until her eyes landed on the dark clothed boy, still looking the same as he had all those years ago it was like looking back into the past at Naru.

"Gene" Mai said, he turned around and smiled not the fake Naru smile but the one that reached his eyes.

"Hi Mai" he said

"Here to warn me about your brother again? Cause if you are it's a bit too late for that"

"Ahh so you saw him then did you? If it makes you feel any better I don't think he has any clue who are you." Gene smirked "for someone with such a high IQ he certainly is a moron"

That made Mai laugh out loud "well at least someone else noticed it too. Do you know why you are here Gene?" She asked

Gene stopped smiling "I'm still uncertain, maybe I'm still here to help you with cases, this one is kicking your butt a little isn't it?" Mai narrowed her eyes

"Do you have any useful information for me?" she asked

"I think the answer to what is causing the deaths is in that diary" he said

"Well no shit Sherlock! It's the only thing that I've found that has any importance so far" Mai replied.

"you'll be happy to know that you know more than my idiot brother does" Gene said, Mai just smirked "where did you get that scar Mai?" he asked

Mai sighed and lowered herself onto the ground, Gene sat down next to her "a lot happened the year after your body was found Gene. Things that I don't want to revisit, things that I can't right now. It hurts too much" She turned to look at him and could see the sadness in his eyes

"Is it the same thing that caused a spike in your PK or gave you the ability to break doors with your bare hands or gave you superhuman speed?" Gene asked

"Yeah it is" Mai stated

"You know he might not say it but Naru feels bad about leaving everyone to go back to England, especially you Mai."

Mai looked and him and felt her blood boil "He doesn't even know what he is sorry for, if he hadn't left if he'd just listened then maybe…just maybe" Mai trailed off

"What Mai?" Gene asked

"Then maybe I wouldn't be a mutilated freak who has to travel at night and wears sunglasses and a mask 24/7 in case I scare someone." Mai said, Gene just sat next to her speechless. Mai moved to stand up "Is there something else you need Gene?"

"I don't think so if I find out anything else I'll let you know"

"Thanks" and with that he faded away

 ** _Real world_**

Mai opened her eyes to see the dark ceiling of her room, turning over the small clock on her bedside read 3:30 am, pinching the bridge of her nose she started thinking about Gene 'why did he have to ask so many questions? She'd spent 3 years trying to shut herself away, lock up any emotions that would interfere with her work and within the past 3 days all of that had become unhinged.' The sooner she solved this case the sooner she could be on the road and away from them, she went to pick up the diary she'd found the other day and settled back down on the bed. It was still the middle of the night and everything was dark. She turned on her bedside light and began to read the notes of Matsu Okuda.

 _April 1732_

 _Mother and father have been a lot stricter recently, I'm not certain but I think it has something to do with the increase of miners passing through our Ryokan. I don't know what they expect to happen but I'm always under supervision recently, I guess a 19 year old female who remains unmarried is bad luck, they've talked about sending me off to the closet town to find a husband as if I'm just a mere object to them not a family member at all._

Mai flicked through another couple of pages that just described the inn and the seasons. Mai noticed that Matsu wrote a lot about still being unmarried and how she felt like she had dishonoured her parents, given the time period it was only natural that young girls were married off to slightly older men to produce children and look after the family.

 _November 1732_

 _I can't believe how happy I am, the cold winter has forced a lot of the miners into the populated cities because of the harsh weather conditions but he has decided to stay here until the weather improves. Of course I would never tell mother and father about our love, they wouldn't understand, they'd forbid it and have me locked up or sent off to somewhere else. Their only daughter in love with a miner but I don't care, when he looks at me I know that he's all I want._

Interesting Mai thought so she fell in love with someone who stayed at the inn, maybe that's why she is still holding on? A forbidden romance that ended badly, maybe there was something of his hidden here. She flicked through some more of the diary but that's when it got weird, there were pages ripped out and the writing changed from an elegant print to that of a mad woman with scrawled ink all over the pages, very few dates and nothing that made any sense. She kept searching for something that would help, anything that would indicate what had happened.

 _10:30 am_

Mai was starting to get frustrated with this damn woman, the notes she'd left made no sense and Mai just hoped that she was considering the right person because if it turned out to be one of the other owners then this was just a colossal waste of time, she lay back against the pillow and shut her eyes for a few minutes, she felt something pulling at her and suddenly she was standing out overlooking the water. She felt the air blowing her hair around and a longing in her chest.

 _"Matsu! What are you doing? Get away from there!" she heard her mother shout_

 _"You don't control me any longer! You took everything away from me!" She shouted back_

 _"We were trying to protect you"_

 _"You never cared all you wanted to do was protect your reputation" she said before turning and throwing herself off the cliff._

Mai opened her eyes, that was the second spirit dream in the past day and it was starting to drain her. 'Matsu threw herself from the cliff outside after an argument with her parents' she thought to herself. Grabbing the diary off the floor where it had fallen she jumped up and raided her bag for some power bars and energy drink. When she was finished she flicked through the last part to see if Matsu had written anything about planning her death.

 _March 1734_

 _I cannot stand this anymore, I'm sick of all of this. I can no longer bear to be in a world where she isn't, how could they have done that? How could they take her from me? I guess it doesn't matter now in a few hours it'll all be over. I've hidden the chest somewhere where they'll never find it, so they know they can't control me any longer._

That was the last thing Matsu had ever written, now it was starting to make sense. She was trapped in the water because that's where she killed herself and there was a chest in the inn that had something of hers in it which is why she'd been causing trouble here. Mai looked back up at the clock which now read 2:30am… She's managed to sleep the whole day away, she blamed the beds usually she'd be perched in an abandoned building or crappy motel where the mattresses were old and solid.

She decided to get up and look for the chest that Matsu had written about. She was still riled up after her encounter with Naru, 3 years later and he could still rub her up the wrong way. Pulling herself out of bed she pulled on her mask and summoned her night vision she could use her torch but it might attract some more attention, she had tried to do all her investigating at night to avoid the group but given her search of the rest of the building the only room left was the base room, unfortunately this meant she couldn't avoid the group any longer.

Making her way through the hallway and down the stairs her boots made no noise against the floor, she knew whoever was in the base would see her coming through the cameras. She arrived at the base door which was leaning against the frame since she'd broken the hinges on it, she'd need to fix that for them before she left. Opening the door the base room was covered in a light glow from the computer screens, Lin was typing away at the keyboard and didn't even turn around when she entered the room.

"I assume you are here to find something?" He asked

"You assume right"

"Well try not to make too much of a mess, the last thing I need is Naru having a seizure because his equipment is broken."

"Noted" Mai said while she examined the room. She made her way past the couch to examine the bay window, turning around she took in the room. It was average size with plain walls and a wooden floor, a small coffee table sat in the middle with couches on either side, the computers and recording equipment was at the other side of the room and to the left was an old fire place, 'wait a minute' she thought. 'Fire places with red brick weren't consistent with the Edo period that this inn was built in, they were far too western to have a place here. Of course, it could have been an addition that had been added later' Mai walked over to the fire place, she put her hand into the space, a cold draft was coming from somewhere. 'Hmm that doesn't make sense, the whole thing had been sealed off and was purely meant for decoration so there shouldn't be a draft coming from anywhere' She thought.

"May I ask how your investigation is going?" She asked Lin

"Slowly" was all Lin said

She turned back around and climbed inside the fireplace to examine the brick work.

"Lin is there someone in the fireplace?" Mai heard a voice ask from outside

"Yes." Was all Lin said in response

"Care to elaborate?"

"No" Lin said, Mai couldn't help but snort she knew he was a man of few words but she'd very rarely heard him speak to Naru like that and what she presumed was Monk.

She continued to hear them bickering outside but tuned it out, tapping on the bricks around her she tried to find where the draft was coming from. That's when she saw it about 8 feet up there were slight discolouration in the brick work, it was very subtle but there. Ducking back out to see where it came out Mai noticed that it must come out above the room, 'perhaps there is a crawl space in the ceiling' she thought

"Do you need any help?" She heard Monk ask

Ignoring him she went back into the chimney, tensing her muscles she sprung herself up to the top of the chimney where the discoloured bricks were. Stretching her legs out she perched in between the walls and inspected the bricks, she could hear the guys in the room shuffling around and mumbling to themselves. She slammed her palm against the bricks and dislodged a few of them, dust and air breezed through to reveal a crawl space. Pulling herself up she managed to lie on her stomach and crawl into it. Squeezing through the space she moved slowly until she found what she was looking for.

Groups P.O.V

Monk and Naru emerged into base at around 3am to let Lin get some sleep, Monk opened the door to see Lin tapping away at the keyboard in the dim light room. That's when he noticed two legs sticking out of the fireplace, "Lin is there someone in the fire place?" he asked

"Yes" he replied, he'd been in a weird mood for a while now, it was probably Naru's fowl mood rubbing off on him

"Care to elaborate?" Naru asked

Lin sighed and said "No. Leave her to do her job" Monk inhaled sharply and moved out of the way before Lin and Naru started to fight. Since they'd gotten back to Japan there seemed to be a lot more tension between the two of them with Lin's patience running thin and Naru's temper always on edge.

"That's great just let some random woman into our work space to rake around in the chimney without any explanation!" Naru snapped but Lin just ignored him and continued to type.

Monk had made his way over to the chimney just as the woman's head had poked back out, her eyes looked at the ceiling, at least that's what he assumed since he couldn't see anything underneath the weird mask. He's asked Ayako about it the other day because it was troubling him"

 ** _Flashback_**

"What kind of medical condition would require someone to wear a mask like that?" he'd asked

"I'm not sure, breathing problems or immune issues would be the first thing to come to mind however I've never seen one that also has built in sunglasses" Ayako trailed off, she was deep in thought leaning against the door frame of her room. Both her and Monk had tried to keep their casual friendship on the down low. They had been there for each other when Mai had disappeared and were very close now. Monk was sure he was in love with Ayako but hadn't said anything yet. He noticed how beautiful her hair looked in the pale light and had to stop himself from kissing her.

"I'd need to do some research on it and make some phone calls to find out what different medical conditions would require it." She paused "of course, it could always be spiritual nature. You saw how fast she moved in the factory to save Naru and the way she managed to fight that spirit off, I've never seen any normal human do that." Ayako finished

"Hmm whoever she is she seems to have completely knocked Naru on his ass" Monk said

 ** _End of Flashback_**

Whoever she was she certainly knew what she was doing, "do you need any help?" Monk asked her, her long crimson hair was pinned up onto the top of her head to reveal the straps that kept her mask in place. She proceeded to ignore him and went back into the fireplace. 'Her manners are as bad as Narus' he thought, Monk turned back to Lin and Naru who were now in a full blown argument.

"And you didn't think to ask what she was wanting at all?" Naru said

"Not really. She seems to know what she is doing." Lin replied

"She is a random stranger Lin, for all we know she could be part of what is happening here!"

"I doubt that she would be responsible for both what is going on here and the incidents at the factory, plus if you remember she saved both you and Masako from certain death. I think that gets a little bit of trust." Lin said, Naru face was turning red with anger

"I just don't want any of the equipment to be damaged, if you remember what happened the last time someone wondered around without supervision you ended up hurt and one of our cameras was broken"

"Yeah and who was that? Oh that's right Mai and look how that ended!" Lin shouted, that silenced Naru, just before one of them said something else there was a loud bang. Turning around they saw rubble and bricks on the floor.

"Is that bricks…?" Monk asked, Naru rolled his eyes as if to say obviously. There were banging and creaking noises above the men. "What do you think is going on up there?" Monk asked

"She's probably found a crawl space between the floors. Although if she was intending on destroying the base it would be nice of her to share any information she had" Naru stated, as if on cue there was a loud cracking sound from above them and then suddenly a large crash as the ceiling opened up over the coffee table. The woman landed flat on her back as the coffee table was crushed underneath her, rubble and dust clouded around the room.

Mai's P.O.V

Mai saw what looked like a small chest hidden in the crawl space, 'this must be what she was trying to hide,' reaching out she grabbed the handle of the box and pulled it towards her. A loud cracking noise echoed out underneath her and the next thing she knew she was landing on top of the wooden coffee table that broke underneath her weight. She ripped off the bottom part of her mask and coughed out dust. Lying on her back she could see that there was a lot of damage on the ceiling, the crawl space was obviously only meant for hiding things and had rotten over years of disuse, turning over she could see the group of men stood in shock.

"Oops" Mai said as she pulled herself up off the ground, she wiped dust off her clothes and bent down to pick up the small chest. Mr Ikeda barged in through the door in his night clothes

"What the hell is going on here?! We hired you to sort the problem not make more ones!" He yelled Mai walked over to him and pulled a large about of money out her pocket

"Sorry about that, this should cover any damage" she said as she handed it to him. He looked at her for a few moments before shuffling off back to bed

"You better hope none of our equipment is damaged" Naru said

Mai wiped soot off her glasses, adjusted the chest under her arm and looked at him "I thought a smart man like yourself would have insurance for all your equipment"

"We do but I don't think it covers people falling through ceilings on to it"

"Well you can see if any of it is broken and then read me the riot act. Although I do seem to recall saving you from being crushed to death so if anything, you should be paying me" Mai said, Naru said nothing in response so Mai decided to take her leave "good luck with your investigation!" she said before leaving.

Mai made her way back to her room, once she was there she put the chest on the floor. It had a padlock on it which Mai ripped off. Opening the lid the only thing that was in it was a tiny gold bracelet, Mai picked it up to examine it, it was a simple gold chain that looked like it would only fit onto a child's wrist. 'Great! Is that it?' she thought, maybe this is what is keeping Matsu here. She sat for a few minutes examining the bracelet, it didn't make complete sense however if she was a normal spirit she wouldn't be as powerful as she currently was especially not over two different elements. Spirits that had been drowned or killed themselves in water tended to only be able to harm those that were in the water, unless she was a Kaidan. Finally it clicked a vengeful spirit that had killed herself in water with a burning grudge, that's what Matsu had to be. The only problem was Mai had no idea how the hell to get rid of her.

11am the next day

Masako P.O.V

It had taken the group a few hours to clean up the mess made by the mysterious woman in the middle of the night. Monk had told them that she'd found something in the crawl space between the base room and the floor above it, what it was they had no idea but it was probably something to do with the case.

Masako hadn't been able to feel any spirits in the inn from the moment they arrived, the sea surrounding the place however was dark and deadly, she could only sense the spirits of the dead children that had been lost in the water but there was definitely something darker lurking under the waves. Yasu had managed to dig up all the names of the previous owners of the inn but it was taking time to dig through each of their pasts to try and find something, the group had been camped out in the base for hours searching for information. Naru had been especially irritable thanks to the mysterious woman who was lurking around the place Masako thought that she was here for the same reason they were so doubted that she was involved in what was happening. Masako was starting to feel tired, that's all she felt these days, between filming and SPR it was completely draining her energy, more so than it did before.

"Are you alright Masako?" John asked from the couch next to her

"I'm fine thank just feeling a little tired, I think I might go and lie down for a few hours, if you'll excuse me." She said as she left the room and headed to her bedroom, she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

 _Masako opened her eyes to find herself standing on the edge of a cliff looking out onto the sea. She felt so much sadness and a hollow feeling that was eating away at her, she felt the sea breeze move her long hair all around her and that's when she realised she must have been in a dream. Looking down she could see that the clothes she wore were at least a few hundred years old, the landscape looked the same as it did now the only difference was the inn. Its structure was smaller and more basic with a few rooms. Masako turned back to the water, she felt tears falling down her face as she looked down at the rocks below._

 _"Matsu! What are you doing? Get away from there!" she heard her mother shout_

 _"You don't control me any longer! You took everything away from me!" She shouted back_

 _"We were trying to protect you"_

 _"You never cared all you wanted to do was protect your reputation" she said before turning and throwing herself off the cliff. Masako felt the air and then her body collide with the water and then nothing._

"NOOOOOO" She screamed jumping straight up in bed, her clothes were covered in sweat and she was crying. She was trying to adjust to the darkness when a glass of water appeared in front of her face.

"Drink this" the figure said, shaking Masako took the glass from the woman they'd met earlier. After a few moments Masako finished the water and looked at the woman standing at the end of her bed, she leaned casually against the bedpost but showed little expression in her face, she only had on sunglasses which was a bit weird given that the room was completely dark.

"How did you get in here?" Masako asked

"I know how to pick locks, I heard you scream in the hallway and thought I'd come check on you" She replied, "you saw it too didn't you?"

"Saw what?" the woman just tilted her head "yes I did. She flung herself into the water" Masako finished

"You better get dressed and go and tell the rest of your group" she said "I'll wait outside for you" with that she left.

Mais P.O.V

She hadn't intended on interacting with anyone but when she passed by Masakos room she heard her scream and decided to see if she was alright. It had just been a dream, the same one Mai had had last night about the girl Matsu flinging herself off the cliff edge to spite her parents. The full reason behind it was still slightly unclear to Mai. She stood outside Masakos room waiting for her to get ready, she thought it would be best to escort her to the group in case she had another vision, Mai had a lot of resentment towards SPR but she wasn't a monster. The door opened and a pale Masako stood in the doorway, turning around Mai started walking to base.

"I don't need an escort" Masako said

"I have some information that I thought would be useful to you" Mai stated

"I thought you worked alone?"

"I do but let's just say I'm feeling slightly generous today" Mai replied what she really wanted to say was that she had no idea how to get rid of the damn thing and needed some help but she wasn't about to admit that, all it would do would inflate Naru's ego even more. Opening the door to the base the group stopped to watch her, she stepped to the side and let Masako enter.

"Are you alright Masako?" John asked

"I'm fine John, I had a dream that might be useful to the case" Masako said. Mai walked over to the bay window and just stood while Masako went to sit on the couch next to the rest of the group.

"Is there a reason you need to be here?" Naru snapped, Mai just shrugged in response, turned her head to the window and said

"I like the view"

"Do you also like the view of the giant hole in the ceiling that you made?" he asked

Mai smirked "Perhaps" she could almost see the vein popping in Naru's forehead, it was interesting how easily he could be pissed off now. He turned his attention back to Masako

"What did you see Miss Hara?" he asked, Masako then recalled the whole dream to the group. "Yasu did you find a Matsu in any of the files?"

"I did read something about a Matsu Okuda who was the daughter of the Okuda couple that built the inn in the 1700's. There wasn't any information about them however, sometimes when looking back that far paper trails run thin" he finished

"So what this girl kills herself to spite her parents and now haunts the sea and kills any young children that go near the water?" Monk said "Why 2-3-year-old girls though?" the group sat for a few minutes before Mai chimed in

"She's a Kaidan" the group turned

"What?"

"A Kaidan, a vengeful spirit who takes their power from the sea, it use to be believed that water was a direct pathway to the underworld" She finished "at least that's my theory, how to get rid of her is another problem" and with that she made her way out of the door. 'Hopefully they'll be able to figure out how to get rid of her because I have no clue' she went back to her room to scan through the diary one more time. Once she arrived at her room she opened up the chest again, the tiny chest had had nothing in it but the book and a tiny gold bracelet, as she was picking up the book the bracelet fell onto the bottom of the chest and that's when she noticed it, an echo a very small one but definitely there. She carefully lifted both the book and necklace out of the chest to examine it closer. That's when she noticed it the wood that was on the bottom of the chest was different from the sides, which meant it must have been a fake bottom. Turning the chest upside down and shaking it caused the bottom to become loose, Mai turned it back over and pulled it out to reveal a bundle of blankets, she didn't like the look of this, slowly she pulled the cloth back to reveal a small skull and set of bones. Suddenly all the pieces made sense Mai grabbed the diary, as furiously flicked through the pages she was searching for the ending chapters, Matsu talked on and on about having something taken from her. That must have been it, her child was taken from her and killed, then when she killed herself she was so angry with her parents that she'd became vengeful, her belongings were sealed away and no one knew she'd hidden the childs body.

Naru's P.O.V

"A Kaidan…have you heard of them before?" Naru asked Lin

"I know that they are water spirits and they tend to have many names, how we get rid of it I don't know" Lin answered

"Surely if she is vengeful there must be tying her to the inn, she's tied to the water because she killed herself there. Masako during your dream you mentioned that she said she had everything taken from her was there any mention of what that was?" Yasu asked

"No she never mentioned it but she did say the parents only cared about their reputation" Masako answered

"What about a lower class lover? A miner perhaps? You said that it was opened to house miners making their way to the Besshi copper mine, maybe she was helping her parents with the inn and fell in love with someone passing through and killed herself when her parents didn't approve. Of course if that was the case it means there must be something tying her to the inn, a love letter or something of his?" Monk theorised the group nodded and thought about this idea

"Why would she be killing children though? Why not young males?" Ayako asked

Before anyone could answer Miss Ikeda barged in, breathlessly as if she'd been running "You have to come quickly…there's a couple whose child has gone missing" the group jumped up and followed her out of the base to see a young couple standing in reception.

"You have to help us, our child, she was right there and then she was gone…" the young lady pleaded

"How long has she been missing?" Naru asked

"Um I don't know maybe an hour, we just stopped to get some air and then she was gone, we've phoned the police but it might be too late"

"Alright everyone make your way to the beach, bring torches and let's get searching" Naru stated as the group moved out.

7 hours later and the group was still searching the land and water for her, it was starting to get dark and the outcome looked bad.

Mais P.O.V

Mai had been trying to research all day on a way to figure out how to get rid of Matsu, fire had been her first instinct but given that she was now taking power from the water wouldn't be a good mix. She could take the childs body to her but whether that would appease her or just make her more anger was uncertain. Of course having extra people on the case was clouding her judgement, normally she'd just torch the bones and then spread the ashes in the water to see if that would work but with so many people there was no telling if the spirit would lash out or not. Sighing she decided to take a break and go raid the kitchen for some food, she didn't tend to eat much or she just forgot which never helped with her fatigue. Making her way downstairs she saw a few police officers and a young couple standing at reception. Miss Ikeda was making her way through the hallway when Mai stopped her

"What's going on?" She asked casually

"Ah Miss Crimson, tragic really a young child has gone missing, poor couple stopped on their way through to a holiday resort and decided to rest, after they got out their car they were walking for a little while and stopped to take in the view and when they turned around their child was gone. She was only 3" Miss Ikeda choked and put her hand over her mouth "So young… so innocent" she mumbled to herself as she walked away. Mai turned around immediately and ran out of the inn door, jumping over uneven ground she raced to the water's edge. The sunlight had started to go down and she could see SPR was dotted around the place still searching. Closing her eyes she summoned her powers trying to find the spirit energy of the child, this is usually how she'd find missing persons on cases, by using her PK to sense living spirits however it took a lot of energy out of her and sometimes you didn't always find what you were looking for. Scanning the beach she counted each ball of light there were 7 in total that she could find, she tried to focus on smaller spirit energy childrens energy was on a slightly different plane, that's why they could see things a lot of adults couldn't. Scanning the sand Mai still couldn't pick up on any energy, she moved right up to the edge of the water but she couldn't pick up any energy from there either. This meant one of two things, either the child had been abducted and taken far away from here or she was dead. Mai knew that the chances were it was the later, turning around to head back into the inn she passed Monk who was still searching.

"There's no point looking anymore, she's dead" Mai said to him, Monk looked up in shock but before he could say anything Lin shouted from across the stretch of land

"I've found her" the group moved around to join Lin but Mai stayed where she was, she didn't need to see the body to know that the child had long moved on. She made her way to the kitchen before having to listen to the parents cries of pain, this was the part she always hated was the reactions of the loved ones upon discovery.

 _12pm_

Mai stood in silence on the beach, the moonlight reflected off the water making it glow. The discovery of the little girls body had annoyed Mai, she still couldn't figure out exactly how to get rid of the Kaidan but it had to be soon before anyone else got hurt. Matsu was obviously holding onto what had happened to her but spending 300 years stewing in anger and regret meant that she was powerful, more powerful than anyone here and that was going to cause problems. The child found had been missing for only 8 hours which also meant that she was fast and not keeping the children for any reason. Mai felt extremely frustrated "What are you after?!" she shouted out at the water, picking up a stone she launched it over the water and watched it land in the middle. Stretching she spread her arms out to feel the cold air swirl around her, something about being in nature called out to Mai, there were no complication, no people, no feelings just life. She lowered her arms and let out a breath of air, the air around the countryside was always cleaner and purer than in the cities.

"Do you mind if I join you?" a voice from behind her spoke

"It's a free country" was all Mai said in response, after her outbreak the other day she had been trying to avoiding the group like the plague especially Naru but it hadn't exactly been working. She heard the sand move underneath his feet while he approached her, turning her head she looked up towards the sky.

They stood in silence for a few minutes before Naru asked "Who exactly are you?"

"God you really don't know when to quit do you?" She replied

"I've searched through all the contacts I have that work in this business and not one of them has any clue about you" Naru said

Mai snorted "imagine that, not knowing everything there is to know about someone. Like I said before I work alone, it's much less messy that way." Turning to look at Naru through her glasses "less bodies to bury" Naru flinched when she said this, smirking she knew she'd hit his sore spot. '

Turning away she made a few more steps towards the water's edge "why is it that you must know who I am?" she asked

"I like to be familiar with the people who are working on the same case as my team, especially those who have PK"

Mai paused for a minute letting what he said hang in the air before she asked "Let me ask you something, do you believe in fate Mr Shibuya?"

Naru rolled his eyes "Of course not, people make their own way in this world, to think that there is a larger power controlling the outcomes is preposterous" 'Typical Naru' Mai thought

"I only ask because no matter how hard I try I can't seem to escape my past, if I was a dreamer I'd say it's fates way of trying to give me a second chance but you and I both know that isn't true. There is something you're searching for isn't there Shibuya or should I say Mr Davis?" Mai said

"…" Naru narrowed his eyes but gave no response, turning around Mai walked over to him and stood right in front of him she could see her reflection in his eyes, sunglasses and all.

"You want to know who I am? I have a feeling you already know" she stepped around him and began to walk back to the shade of the trees "Think about it…Naru…" and with that she disappeared back into the forest.

Naru's P.O.V

"Think about it…Naru…" Naru snapped his head up only to be met by empty space, he spun around looking for her but she was gone. That voice rang in his ears, that same voice that had haunted his every thought, the same voice that had told him she was in love with him. It was her, he'd been going crazy trying to find out where she was when they'd returned to Japan. For months before he decided to come back he was haunted with nightmares, horrible images of her being hurt and screaming in pain. Screams that he couldn't get out of his head, he knew that it was his brother she was in love with but he had to make sure that she was alright. When they came back to find out that she had been missing for almost 3 years he felt like the ground he stood on had shifted, what he knew and everything he was confident about was all up in the air. Yet here she was right on the same case as them, all this time she had been hunting, how could he not have known?

He turned and stormed his way back into the inn and slammed his hands down on the desk in the base, Lin didn't even flinch of course he was the only one working at this time of night "How did your conversation with our friend go?" he asked

Naru snapped his head up "So you knew it was her?!"

"I had my suspicions" Lin replied

"And you never thought to share that information with me?"

"Well I wasn't sure and I figured it would be better for you to find out the truth yourself, maybe it will help get you out of this bad mood you've been in for the past 3 years" Lin stated

"That had nothing to do with Mai" Naru argued

"Really? Because Genes body was laid to rest a week after we got back to England and you are still moping around like a puppy that has been kicked" Lin now standing yelled "The way I see it is you are just always like this or it isn't just Gene you are mourning after." Naru blinked he'd never seen Lin this angry before, they'd been fighting ever since they landed in Tokyo "Look I don't know what you are trying to prove to yourself but you have to remember that you turned every single one of our lives upside down when you found Gene, especially Mai. I don't know what happened between you two on the lake that day but if you've been given a second chance you better take it because if you keep acting like this you are going to end up alone" Lin finished, closing his laptop he left Naru alone in the base room. Naru collapsed back onto the computer chair, he put his head in his hands trying to calm his mind down, it was reeling with information. For the second time in his life he was at a loss on where to go next. Mai had been hunting for these past 3 years by herself, it made no sense, why would she cut ties with the only family she had to pursue this line of work. She'd obviously had some sort of training otherwise she wouldn't have had that sort of PK energy, she had always had a natural talent for this line of work but nowhere near the amount of power she had now.

Watching the minutes tick away on the computer clock Naru let his mind wander, he'd wanted to find her again to restart SPR. At least that's what he told himself, he knew that she was in love with Gene and not him and for some reason that had hurt him. He'd been use to that growing up with Gene, girls flocked to him like moths to a flame but it had never bothered him when they preferred Gene. This was the first time he'd felt saddened about it, he'd assumed that after finding Genes body his strange mood was still him mourning however it went on for months, he'd wake up in the middle of the night for no reason, he felt like something was missing like he was empty. Diving into work had eased him slightly but it wasn't until a few months ago he'd been visited by Gene. Why that idiot hadn't moved on was unclear but he told Naru that Mai was in trouble, of course he failed to mention that she'd disappeared or where to find her but Gene did always like mysteries.

He turned back to the computers the time read 2am, looking at one of the screens he watched as the woman…no Mai made her way to the 2nd floor, jumped up and disappeared. She must have been away to the room in the attic for some reason, when the group had investigated it they found nothing of use there. He watched as she slowly started moving boxes and other furniture out of the inn, he fought the urge to go and talk to her, whatever she planned on doing was probably going to help the case and he wanted to finish it so he could ask her to be a part of SPR again. He left her to work through to the early hours of the morning while he did some more research on Kaidans.

5am the next day

Mai P.O.V

Mai had decided to torch everything, without any more information on Matsu the best thing to do would be to burn it all. Mai had spent all night trying to move everything out of the attic and onto the beach, she'd left the chest in her room and would burn that last but getting the desk out had not been easy even with her strength it had taken a huge effort eventually she'd given up and snapped the old wood in two. She took out some lighter fluid and sprayed it over the old belongings, lighting a match she threw it on the pile and watched it catch fire. The heat that came off the fire felt nice so Mai decided to sit down and watch the flames eat the old furniture, the sun was just beginning to rise as Mai felt her eyelids close, the crackling from the flames and the crashing of the waves started to put her into a deep sleep….

A piercing scream woke Mai up, she snapped her head up to see Monk, Ayako and someone else standing on the wooden pier scanning the water. 'Shit, she's taken another child' Mai thought as she ran to the scene. "AIKOOOO" her mother screamed from the shore, Mai ran down the beach as fast as her legs would allow her to go without using her powers.

"I can't see where she went" Ayako said

"That thing grabbed her too fast" Monk shouted

"Move out of the way" Mai shouted as she ran onto the pier, ripping her jacket and gloves off she dove head first into the salty water. The water looked like black tar and was impossible to see in, Mai summoned up her night vision to try and see through the thick water, closing her eyes she reached out to try and find the childs spirit. Scanning through the water she saw the small ball of light coming from below her, racing through the water Mai grabbed Aiko by the hand and pulled her to her chest, shooting out a pulse of energy to repeal the darkness Mai spun and flew to the surface. Once she broke the water she hoisted the child up to Monk on the pier "Get back to the shore, NOW" She yelled. Before she could climb out herself something grabbed her ankle and pulled her back into the water. Fighting against the spirit she thrashed and hit out as it dragged her deeper, 'oh I am soo not in the mood for this today' she thought, closing her eyes she pulled on her powers, a strange red glow gathered around her and she slammed it into the spirit. Just as the attack landed Mai was thrown clean out of the water and smashed into the cold sand on the opposite side of the pier, she gasped as air filled back into her lungs, she turned onto her side and used her forearms to prop herself up to cough out the bitter water, the salt burned her throat. Turning around she could see the water starting to bubble and darken in front of her, it started to move and take shape until there was the figure of Matsu, her hair which was matted with seaweed and salt water fell in front of her face like a heavy curtain, her pale skin was wrinkled and her eyes were completely grey with no pupil to be seen. Screaming the thing lunged at Mai, she felt an invisible force pinned her whole body to the ground. Her powers were useless in this situation the Kaidan had at least 400 years on her. She tried to move her head up but was slammed back down into the sand, she could vaguely hear the group on the other side of the beach shouting, out of the corner of her eye Lin, Monk and Naru were approaching the end of the beach.

The monster moved over the sand causing water and black sludge to spread out underneath her, within seconds she was hovering over Mai inches from her face, "You can't keep secrets hidden forever Mai-chan" the spirit said to her, Mai could feel her breath on her face and see the complete emptiness in her eyes. "I know the secrets you hold in that thing you call a heart, I've seen the darkness of humanity just like you" she put her hand on Mais chest and pushed, Mai felt a burning sensation and screamed "you can only hide for so long" Matsu shouted as she slashed her nails across Mais face and ripping the mask off in the process, Mai watched as the mask flew and rolled over in the sand and then she saw the 3 figures running over to her.

Turning her head, she yelled "You can talk, bitch" and with that Mai flung her head forward colliding with the spirit, hissing in pain it swung back. Mai took this opportunity to bring her now free legs up and slam them into her chest cause her to recoil, she then vaulted up while the spirit tried to recollect itself.

"Mai…? Is that you?" turning around Mai locked eyes with Monk, she could feel small lines of blood trickling down her face. Puffing from running all the way down the beach Monk narrowed his eyes and took a step closer "It is you isn't it?". Mai started to panic she could see Naru, Lin and Ayako in the background as well approaching fast 'Shit, I didn't plan this far ahead' she thought. A growling sound dragged Mai's attention away from Monk, turning around the spirit was standing up and looked even more pissed, next thing Mai knew an invisible force smashed into her stomach sending her flying backwards onto the sand knocking the air out of her lungs. She scrambled up to see Monk had started chanting but it didn't seem to be working, she then saw who Matsus next target was going to be and the shape that the water was morphing her arm in to. Before her brain could catch up she hurled herself as fast as she could over the sand just as the spirit slashed down at Naru, Mai jumped in front of him and the blade connected with her front slashing through her torso. She heard the slicing of flesh before she felt it and then the power from it sent her flying sideways 'God damn it, I'm really getting my butt handed to me here' she thought at she landed in the sand.

"MAI" she heard Monk shout at her from across the sand, trying to get up caused her to let out a howl of pain, this got the groups attention. Her vision was blurry and her hearing made it sound like everything was under water. Struggling to her feet she could feel the blood pouring down her front no amount of power was going to heal that quickly, the spirit had now advanced onto the group again, her head was spinning and everything hurt but she wasn't about to watch anyone else die.

Picking up a piece of bark she launched it "HEY ARIEL DID YOU FORGET ABOUT ME?" She yelled at her, Mai took a few staggered steps forward and started coughing which caused bright red blotches to spray all over the sand in front of her. Matsu turned her head back towards Mai and barred her teeth, eyes filled with rage and water pouring out of her mouth. Mai noticed that she appeared to be moving more slowly as if the ground weakened her Kaidan powers. Not breaking eye contact with the spirit as she stepped back "Monk, you have to do exactly as I tell you, go back to the main house, there is a chest in the guest room I'm in, remember the one I had the other day? Get it and burn its contents it's the only way to free her."

"Mai…"

"Just do it alright. I don't have the energy or the time to argue"

"Alright Mai" Lin interrupted

"Good" turning to the spirit "I've got something that belongs to you" bringing the tiny gold bracelet out of her pocket Mai waved it in front of her face. "If you want it back you'll have to come and get it" the spirit growled and bared its teeth.

"That doesn't belong to you!" Matsu howled "Give her back to me!" Slowly Mai took steps back….one...two…three. She then spun on her heel and bolted across the sand, the spirit wailed and chased after her. Sprinting down the beach Mai had hoped the three males would do what she told them to do, she was doing this to buy them some time, knowing that the spirit couldn't follow her far inland but would still follow her as long as she had the necklace. Ripping through the forest that outlined the beach Mai ran uphill making her way to the cliff where the spirit had flung herself from in the previous life. Mai could hear the spirit following her through the woods, screeching all the way. 'Almost there, come on keep going' she screamed at herself in her head just as she burst through the trees, coming to a stop at the cliff edge, struggling to catch her breath from the uphill run she turned around just as the spirit came through the trees.

"Give that back to me" it screamed

"You want it? Go get it" Mai turned and launched the necklace off the edge of the cliff, the spirit ran head first after the necklace and hit the waves below. Standing for a few seconds Mai reached out to try and feel the spirit, 'Good, that weakened her. Now we just need to burn that chest'.

She started to turn to head back to see if the group had burned the chest but a shooting pain went through her chest, blood was still dripping out of the giant gash and starting to pool underneath her. She staggered over to a tree and put her hand against it for support while she was hunched over. She tried to summon some of her powers to heal the wound but it was like trying to tap into an empty tank, she was completely drained.

"Mai…?" she heard a voice call

Looking up she could see a winded Naru standing just feet away from her, his clothes and hair were ruffled and he was panting from the uphill run, 'only he could run all this way and still look gorgeous' she thought. "Don't come any closer!" she said while holding her other hand up to stop him, suddenly she was filled with all the feelings that had been left with her that day on the lake, fear, rejection, hurt and most of all a longing, a deep-seated longing that had been missing for years.

"I knew it was you" Naru said his eyes held more emotion that Mai had ever seen before, 'Yeah only after I told you' Mai thought

"I mean it don't come any closer Naru!" she shouted, despite the anger that was behind it, it came out as a desperate plea. She started coughing up blood and her knees buckled beneath her, the next thing she felt arms around her.

"You need to lie down to stop the blood loss" Naru said as he tried to push her to lay her down on the ground

"Fuck you Naru you don't tell me what I need to do anymore, you lost that privilege when you left us for England" Mai snapped despite his smirk Mai could see the hurt in his eyes. Unfortunately, as much as she wanted to storm off her body wouldn't let her so she complied and lay down on the cooling ground. She felt his hands move over to the open wound on her chest, her breath was raspy and she was starting to see spots she had managed to get out of situations worse than this though.

"We need to get you to a hospital" Naru said while taking off his jacket to push against the wound.

Mai hissed in pain "that hurts you jerk"

"Well maybe you should think twice before you jump in front of an angry spirit" Naru said

"Yeah well next time I'll just let it take off your head instead" she responded she laid her head back down on the ground, she could feel the wind moving around her and the gravel digging into her back.

"I'm going to phone an ambulance" Naru said while standing up Mai grabbed his hand and waited for his dark eyes to meet hers

"No hospitals"

"But Mai"

"Promise me Naru, no hospitals" Mai whispered, unsure what to say Naru just nodded. Mai collapsed back to the ground panting heavily "It'll heal in a few days…I can't afford to deal with hospitals…there will be too many questions" she rasped out, laying her head back she let her eyelids close for a few moments but then she felt something touch the skin around her scar which made her jump. Opening her eyes she could see Naru was leaning over her with his hand extended

"That scar, how did you get it?" he asked while his eyes examined her face, Mai slapped his hand away but said nothing and instead turned her gaze to the sky

"Did Monk and Lin go to burn the chest?"

"Yes, they are burning it as we speak" He replied turning his head to the direction of the inn

"Good" she said. Moments of silence which seemed to stretch on forever passed by until Mai decided to try siting up. Pain shot through her and caused more blood to pour out over Narus jacket.

"Still as stubborn as ever I see" he said while he pulled her against his chest and supported her into a slight sitting/lying position, Mai could feel the heat from his body against her back and it made her shiver, it had been so long since she'd had any human contact she couldn't even remember the last time she'd been given a hug. Usually being too close to people set her powers off but for some reason she felt calm, her breathing slowed and her eyes started to close. She realised Naru must have been using his PK to try and calm her

"You better not be using your powers to put me to sleep, otherwise I will kick your ass when I wake up" She mumbled. She knew that advance powers involved manipulating emotions and the atmosphere around people, it wasn't something she could do herself but Naru was a different story.

She wasn't sure how long they'd been sitting there for but after a while she felt movement and then a weightlessness which she assumed was Naru carrying her, the warm of his chest felt inviting and she was completely exhausted so unconsciousness was starting to creep in. She heard Naru talking "I'm going to take her to her room. No, no hospitals" she assumed he was talking to the rest of the group, she then heard nothing she felt herself being laid down, springs made a noise underneath her and she could smell the stale air, before she drifted off she felt a hand on her face stroking her scar "I'm sorry Mai, this is all my fault" Naru whispered as the dark took hold.


	10. Chapter 10 Pride Part 1

_**Author Notes: Thanks for reading everyone! Your reviews have been great and I appreciate it. Again I don't own ghost hunt but wish I did, I hope you are all enjoying the story so far, I'm still not 100% sure where I'm going with it but it'll be interesting to see!**_

 **Case 3**

 _Flashback_

 _"Mai…it's time to wake up…Mai" his voice echoed through her head. She opened her eyes to the same brick wall that she fell asleep next to, every time she slept she dreamt she was somewhere else, anywhere else and every time she woke up to the same black room, the same blood and tear soaked mattress, the same iron cage and the same man who had brought her here._

 _"Breakfast time Mai" his red eyes pierced through the darkness as she heard the metal tray slide over the concrete floor. Mai didn't even bother responding to him instead she stayed focused on the grey brick wall in front of her, she'd become despondent, numb, given up on everything. "You'll need to eat something Mai, we have a lot of training to do today" his voice sent a chill through her entire body. 'Training' was what he called it, torture was a more accurate representation, not that any of it mattered anymore. How long had she been here? All the days started to blur into one. At first she'd fought him, tried to escape, tried to call for help but it failed so instead she went along with his 'training' and counted the days until death would come for her._

 _Mai heard the door to the room shut and turned over, sitting up she felt a slight pain from her right eye. A reminder of what happens when you try to escape him, her vision was slowly returning to it but she knew the scar would be there forever. She sat down next to the tray and ate what she could of it, her appetite hadn't exactly been healthy but that's what happens when you are kept as a prisoner. She didn't want to know what she looked like now, she'd probably struggle to recognise herself, not that any of it mattered, she'd given up hope that the only family she had left was coming to find her. She went back to lying down on the mattress hoping for a few moments of relief before the pain would start again._

Mai opened her eyes to a pitch-black room, she felt completely disorientated. Sitting up in the bed she realised that her torso was covered in a thick bandage, the only other thing she had on was a sports bra and her black shorts. 'How long had she been out for? Where the hell was she?' she thought as she swung her legs off the bed, standing up she felt the lasting sting in her chest from the last case. Suddenly it hit her, the kaiden, SPR, getting injured and then passing out. It didn't look like she was in her room at the inn, she slowly made her way over to the door and flicked on the light switch. The room had pale grey walls, a grey carpet and everything else was black, a large double bed, two side tables, a wardrobe and a set of drawers. It wasn't a room she'd ever seen before that was certain, her eyes fell on to her duffle bag, it looked beaten up and out of place but she'd never been so happy to see it. Raking through it she pulled out a pair of jeans and her trusty knife, she pulled back the curtains to reveal a busy city below the building. A city that she would recognise anywhere, she was back in the SPR building, when they'd converted part of the building into flats she had no idea but it meant that she must be in one of the groups apartments. Turning away from the busy skyline, she went to open the door out into a narrow hallway, the hallway had 3 other matching doors, making her way out of the room and to the end it came out onto an open kitchen and living room. She noticed that the group was crammed around a small coffee table in deep discussion, they hadn't noticed her enter the room she stepped forward and Monk was the first one to see her.

"Mai, you're awake" Monk said as he proceeded to walk over to her, he reached out to hug her but she slapped his hands away and took a step back.

"Don't touch me. Where am I?" she asked turning her gaze to the group

"Don't you think we should be the ones asking the questions Mai?" Naru asked

"Why would you think that?"

"How about because you disappeared one day without telling us where you were going?" Monk said from behind her, Mai whipped her head around 'yeah of course because when you get abducted you always have the chance to tell your loved ones where you are going' she thought

"Whatever, if you won't tell me anything I'll just be leaving then" turning around she made her way back to the room. She flung on her boots and jacket but then realisation hit her… her bike…where was her bike. She tipped her bag upside down onto the bed scanning its contents she couldn't see her bike keys, 'I swear to god if they've left it at that damn inn she'd hurt them' she put her things back in the bag and stormed out into the living room where everyone was still sitting.

"Where's my bike?" She asked, the group just looked at her in response. "Where is my bike? My keys are no longer in my bag" she said again

Naru pointed to a bowl near the door "they're in there" Mai turned and snatched her keys out of the small black bowl perched on a small table at the front door, before she got the chance to leave she heard Lin ask her

"Mai, there are some things we'd like to ask you and I'm sure you've got some questions for us"

"I'd also like to take a look at your injury before you go anywhere" Ayako said, as much as Mai hated to admit it she could see the concern in Ayakos eyes.

"Fine. However don't expect the Mai you knew 3 years ago, she's been dead and buried a while" Mai stated as she sat down on a small leather chair at the end of the table. At the other end Naru also sat and on both sides the rest of the group perched on long couches. "What do you want to know?"

"How did you get that scar?"

"Accident"

"Where were you for the past 3 years?"

"Working"

"Why didn't you tell anyone where you were going?" Naru asked Mai narrowed her eyes at him

"What I do with my personal life is no one's business but mine" crossing her arms and making direct eye contact with Naru Mai held her ground

"Mai do you have any idea how worried we were about you?" Monk said Mai just shrugged "We searched for weeks, months trying to find you, we went to the police, we put out fliers, we almost killed ourselves trying to find you and you couldn't make even one phone call to tell us where you were?!" Monk was angry and hurt, Mai couldn't blame him she understood how he felt but he wasn't the one who had been kept in a cell for a year and she had no desire to share any of that with them.

She looked away from him "it's personal" was all she said

"We're your family, you could have told us anything. We looked for you for months we were worried sick" Monk said

"Yeah well you obviously didn't look hard enough" Mai finished "Do you have any other questions?" she couldn't be bothered with this anymore and she could feel all the emotions in the room that made her head pound and her hands sweat.

Naru was leaning back in the chair, his long legs crossed and rested his chin on one of his hands "how did you get your powers?"

"…training" Mai shifted in her seat uncomfortably "My turn to ask questions, where are we?"

"My apartment" Naru answered, that would explain all the black furniture and the fact they were just above the SPR offices Mai thought

"How long was I passed out for?"

"About 2 weeks"

"Where is my bike?"

"In the apartment garage"

"Is there something that you actually want from me?" She finished with

Lin answered that this time "Well we were all hoping that you would re join SPR Mai" this response sent Mai into fits of laughter

"Of fucking course, I don't know why I expected anything else" she stood up while wiping tears from her eyes "good old SPR, good old Naru. You just cut everyone out, fuck up everyones lives and schedules and then casually walk back in thinking everything should just snap back in time to what it was before you left. Well newsflash for you Naru a lot of shit has happened in the past 3 years and assuming you can just go back to normal is just arrogant" she finished, she put her hand to her chest which was now burning

"Does this mean you wont help us?" Naru asked

"I never said I wouldn't you jerk" Mai spat "Just because you are arrogant and think you can do what you like doesn't mean I'm not going to help anyone" Mai and Naru continued to glare at each other, the tension in the room was starting to build like a thunderstorm

"Alright, that's enough fighting for today, you have to be the worst host ever Naru, you don't even offer her any food or drink before bombarding her with questions. Come on Mai let me take a look at that wound" Ayako said, she moved over and was now steering Mai back towards the bedroom "some of you make yourselves useful and make some dinner" she shouted behind her. She shut the bedroom door and turned to Mai, "Mai can you take off your top and lie down on the bed please" Mai said nothing but did as she was told, she lay down as Ayako took off the bandages. "It's just what I thought, you've managed to rip one of your stitches. I'll need to clean this and re bandage it for you" Ayako said she moved away and in a few seconds returned with a medical kit, sitting down next to Mai she started to disinfect the wound, Ayako's brow furrowed as she looked at Mai's torso, Mai knew that she was seeing the other scars she had but said nothing, flinching slightly as the disinfectant touched her new wound.

"Thanks for helping me" Mai said "a lot has changed but I'm not a complete asshole and I know when someone is doing me a favour" sadness passed over Ayakos face

"We really did try to find you Mai but there was no trail, we were worried sick, did you really just take off for no reason? I mean I get that Naru hurt you but we're your family we would have helped you through it" She looked right at Mai

"It wasn't…I couldn't… It was more complicated than that Ayako" Mai stuttered

"That's alright, just consider the offer, we really did miss you. I've redressed your injury I suggest you try to get some rest before you move around again, you should just enjoy being in Naru's apartment" Ayako winked, Mai didn't respond "wow you really have changed, the old Mai would have turned 20 different shades of red and have killed to get here"

"A lot has happened in the past 3 years" Mai said she closed her eyes and laid back against the soft bed, 'I guess it couldn't hurt to get a few more hours of rest before taking off' she thought as she drifted to sleep.

Group P.O.V

Ayako came back into the living room, Lin had taken to the kitchen to make food for everyone while Monk was deep in discussion.

"She's asleep for just now but I doubt that will last long. Whoever she is she isn't the Mai we use to know." Ayako said while sitting down

"I don't buy it, she wouldn't just have up and disappeared for no reason without telling us" Monk added

"I agree with you there" Yasu chimed in

"If you ask me whatever has happened to her wasn't pleasant and the best thing we can do is not push it" Ayako said

"Why would you say that?" John asked

"Everyone has seen the scar on her face yes?" the group nodded so Ayako continued "Well that isn't the only scar, when I was treating her for her injury I could see that she was covered in them and that was just her torso. The other thing is that they are all small but different ages."

"What are you getting at Ayako?" Monk asked

"Basically the only other time I've seen those sort of scars are from abuse cases and not just standard I mean locked up, kept for a long period of time abuse cases" Ayako paused, the group all looked grim. "On top of that Naru you were saying that PK can sometimes help to heal injuries which would mean there wouldn't be a scar, well that means all of those injuries occurred before Mai had any powers so wherever she has been my money would be on that's where she got them." The group sat in silence at what Ayako had suggested even Lin had paused in the kitchen "the best thing to do is not to treat her like an injured child, when she is ready to tell us she will, of course that is just my medical opinion." Ayako stood up and made her way to the kitchen to help Lin, while the group digested this information Yasu turned to Naru

"So boss man do you have any new cases for us?"

Naru turned and sighed "I have a few lined up but until we know what is happening with Mai I'd rather not go on any cases. Anyway don't you all have better places to be than lounging around my apartment."

"Well we all rushed over when we heard Lin was going to be making dinner since it is such a rare sight to see him doing something that isn't on his laptop" Yasu said and then started laughing when Lin glared at him

 ** _A few hours later_**

The group had eaten, discussed several potential cases and all left to go home, all expect Naru and Lin who sat in complete silence at each end of the breakfast bar in the kitchen.

"What are you planning Oliver?" Lin asked he only ever called him that when he was mad or wanted to have a serious conversation

"What do you mean Lin?" Naru replied

"I think you know" Lin narrowed his gaze at him

"…" Naru said nothing

"Look I know you feel guilty about Gene and about leaving Mai but keeping her locked up in here to get answers isn't exactly the best idea"

"First of all I'm not keeping her locked up in here she is free to leave whenever she wants, second she was injured and I was hardly going to let her bleed to death and finally her torso was sliced open and two weeks later she is up and moving around… don't you think that's a bit strange, even for someone with powers?" Naru asked

"hmm it is true I've heard of very rare individuals being able to heal themselves but never to that extent"

"exactly that is why I'm keeping her here, if she was to lash out the damage she could do would be incredible. There is also the possibility that if she has been using her powers this whole time then she could be extremely useful on cases." Naru finished

"So you want to use her for her powers?" Lin asked

"Perhaps plus trying to find a decent secretary is very time consuming"

"Just be careful Oliver, people aren't items you can't just use them as you see fit, that isn't how the world works and a pissed off Mai was one thing but a pissed off Mai with tremendous PK is a whole other story" Lin said, he finished his tea and left the apartment to go to his own which was just across the hall. The door locked automatically behind him and Naru sighed in relief at how silent the place was. He could hear the clock ticking away on the wall as the time read 1am, he looked out over the city and could see a variety of small lights, he loved that in comparison to his home in England, there was always something going on here, the city never slept.

Making his way through the hall he decided to check on Mai before going to bed for the evening, he cracked open the door slightly and slowly walked into the room. Mai was lying on her back, he could see that Ayako had changed her bandage which covered her complete torso, other than a few physical chances she still looked like Mai, same hair colour and pale skin, still petite but now she was taller and had more muscle. Originally Naru had planned on just waiting at the inn while she recovered but after a few days it was getting boring and the rest of the gang had wanted to move her to a hospital so they made a compromise and his apartment was the answer, how he'd been roped into that he wasn't sure. Mai had just stayed unconscious at first, she had looked greyish and sickly, but then she started thrashing in her sleep, constantly mumbling in her sleep and then she'd go still again. It had been a strange cycle but Ayako had shown up every day to check on her and had confirmed with everyone that the wound was healing very quickly in comparison to normal, if she'd been any other patient she'd be looking at 2 months minimum in hospital. Naru walked over to the side of the bed where he could see Mai was sleeping, her eyes were moving underneath her closed eyelids which was an indicator that she was dreaming. He wondered if she was having a conversation with Gene, maybe he'd been able to find out what had happened to her 3 years ago, he always did have the kind and caring personality that made people confide in him. Naru himself had only managed to speak to him twice since they'd recovered his body, he had hoped that maybe if he ignored him he'd eventually pass on but the second time he'd visited he said that he had some unfinished business, he never finished anything while he was living so why he was starting now when he was dead was a mystery. Naru tried to look for any of the scars Ayako had spoken about earlier on Mai but it was too dark to see anything and for once he didn't want to wake her up, he decided to give up for the evening and head to bed.


	11. Chapter 11 Pride Part 2

**_Authors Note: Hello everyone, just want to say a huge thanks again for all the support and reviews, it feels awesome to know that there are so many people out there who are enjoying the story so far! Please keep reading and enjoying._**

 ** _I'd also like to point out there may be a few things wrong with the story I.E. Mai's apartment number but if I'm honest I can't remember what the number is so I've just expanded on it! If you notice anything really bad feel free to drop me a message or review :D I alway welcome feedback! Thank you guys!_**

 **Mai P.O.V**

 ** _Dreamworld_**

Mai opened her eyes to once again find herself on the spiritual plane "Gene I swear to Darwin if you are here to question me again I will kick your ass, I don't care that you are dead I will do it!" She heard a chuckle from behind her

"Swear to Darwin?" Gene questioned eyebrow raised

"Well I believe in evolution and Darwin is the 'founder of that'"

"HAHAHA!" Gene doubled over laughing "Aww you are so weird Mai"

"Hysterical! Why are you here Gene?" Mai asked

"Just thought I'd check in on my favourite lady" Gene winked

Mai just rolled her eyes "okay well I'm going back to sleep then" she said while lying down

"Alright!" he said while walking over to her with his hands up "I think I'm here to tell you about a new case you need to take" Gene said

"then talk, I'm extremely exhausted Gene, apparently getting ripped open has that effect on you"

"fair enough Mai but you have to see this first so that you can tell the others what case to go on" Gene said

"Alright" Mai said as the background started to blur and shift as it changed, they now were both standing in a narrow, low lit hallway. It looked like a new building with the smell of sawdust and paint hanging in the air, Mai turned to see a young man maybe 17 or 18, he had long blonde curly hair that hid his eyes, he was absorbed in a book as he walked through the hallway, they followed him until he reached a set of stairs. Mai felt the temperature suddenly drop and she saw as a dark shadow formed behind the boy as he stood at the top of the stairs, reaching out the figure lunged for the boys back. Mai and Gene watched as he went flying head first down the stairs, just as they saw a woman running out to help him the vision snapped and then disappeared so that Mai and Gene were just back in the normal plane.

"Interesting…" was all Mai said, Gene shot her a questionable look "What?"

"Nothing just never thought you'd describe a scene like this as interesting" Gene stated

"Well there's not much else I can say, the important thing is what time frame this happened in? Is it past, present or future?" Mai asked

"I'm not sure, I have a feeling it's a past vision, this is the case you'll need to convince Naru to take next" Gene said

Mai snorted "yeah and by convince you mean beat the shit out of him until he agrees?"

"Well normally I wouldn't condone violence but there is always an exception." Gene smirked

Turning to Gene Mai asked "does Naru know you haven't moved on yet?"

"Who do you think told him to come find you?" Gene said

"I should have guessed" Mai said as her vision started to fade and her image of Gene was replaced with the dark ceiling of Naru's spare room.

 ** _Real World_**

Mai sighed while sitting up in bed, Gene was always cryptic and never even gave her a name as to who was in the vision. Mai pushed herself out of the soft bed to explore Naru's apartment, opening the door she could see the one opposite was the bathroom, slipping down to the end of the corridor she saw one of the doors was open slightly peering in Mai made out the vague shape of Naru asleep on the bed. Turning around she opened the other door, flicking on a switch she saw that the spare room was in fact a study. Bookcases were secured onto every wall, along with a very large writing desk that sat in the corner, the only thing that looked out of place was the running machine placed in the middle of the room. 'Makes sense since he's working all the time he probably doesn't have time to go to the gym' Mai thought to herself, she moved over to the desk to find a bunch of files scattered over it. They looked like the old case files she use to organise at SPR, flicking through them she could see that they were all open case files 'maybe one of these was the one Gene was talking about'. Sitting down in the huge leather computer chair Mai started to rummage through the files to see if she recognised the one in her vision, after 20 minutes of rummaging she found the one she was looking for labelled 'Adachi', inside there was a picture of a happy family, one of the members was the boy she'd seen in her dream surrounded by two young girls and presumably his mum and dad, all five of them shared the same blonde curly hair. Across from the photo was a description of the house and the fact that Hiroki had been recently pushed down the stairs, Naru had written some notes next to it which questioned whether or not the teenager had just tripped since he was trying to read a book and walk at the same time but there was no doubt, it was definitely the boy from Mai's vision.

Mai grabbed the folder, turned off the light and walked straight into Naru's room, not even bothering to turn on the light she walked up to his bed where he was sleeping on his side, it was strange seeing him sleep, it was like all his arrogance and narcistic ways just left him when he slept.

'Shame' Mai thought as she stretched her arms out and dropped the file straight onto his face

"What the…?!" Naru yelled, he turned over rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand

"This one" Mai stated while standing over him

"What?" Naru asked in his still exhausted state

"This case" Mai stated pointing to the file "we need to take this case"

"And you had to wake me up at 4am to tell me that?" Naru asked as he sat up in bed, his hair was dishevelled and his black t-shirt was crumpled, Mai had to admit she took some joy in seeing him so disorganised

"The sooner the better" she said, Naru sighed, reached over to turn on the bed side light and picked up the file while rubbing his eyes. He frowned and turned his gaze back to Mai

"There is nothing here to suggest anything spiritual" Naru said

"Yeah cause people always get pushed down the stairs by nothing" Mai stated

"He was reading a book the chances are he tripped on his own two feet Mai" Naru stated

"Call it whatever you want but that's the next case we need to go on"

"And why are you so certain about that?"

"Because Gene told me" Mai said, she proceeded to turn around to leave Naru's room but before she could get to the door Naru grabbed her wrist

"What did he tell you?" Naru demanded

"Hey let go of my wrist" Mai squirmed but couldn't get free of Naru's grasp, Naru's blue eyes drilled into hers "FINE! He showed me a vision of the boy in that file getting pushed down the stairs and he was pushed not tripped, now please let go" Mai said through gritted teeth

"What else did he say?" Naru asked, still holding Mai's wrist, her back was now against the wall and the contact was starting to make her head dizzy. Her whole arm felt like it was burning where Naru held it and Mai didn't want to use her powers and accidentally break his arm but being this close was affecting her in more ways than she cared to admit.

"Nothing!"

"How long has he been talking to you?" Naru almost yelled, he was a few inches away from her face and she could see how worked up he was, his eyes looked frantic and he was breathing heavily.

"Not long, he appeared to me on that first case back at the Steel works" she said, Naru blinked and processed what Mai said, he was standing so close that Mai could feel his body heat and the tension that was rising between them. Naru suddenly looked straight into her eyes, Mai froze, her heart stuck in her throat and the room was beginning to blur behind him. Suddenly realisations crossed Naru's face, the time, the dark and the fact that they weren't in the most modest clothing. He let go of Mai's arm like it was on fire, trying to gain some composure Naru turned away from her and ran a hand through his hair.

"He never mentioned why he was here? Or why he suddenly appeared then?" He asked

"All he's said to me is that he doesn't know either, he thinks he may be able to help with cases but he isn't sure" Mai sighed "Maybe you should try using your twin telepathic connection with him?"

"Well now that I know I might" he paused…"But not at 4 in the morning" Naru stormed back to his bed, jumped back in and pulled the covers over his head like a defiant child trying to skip school.

Mai just stood in silence for a few moments, finally she turned around and left, leaving Naru to sleep she decided she'd spend the rest of the night/early morning doing some background research.

 _9am the next morning_

An irritated and sleep deprived Naru sat at the end of the coffee table in SPR's office, the rest of the group sat quietly waiting on information about the newest case they were leaving for. All expect Mai who stood at the other side of the room leaning against the wall that led into the kitchen, hands crossed over her chest with a laid back posture along with a vacant stare.

"So what's the next case then bossman?" Yasu asked, Mai could feel the tense air in the room and how eager the group was to ask her different questions but hopefully by presenting them with a new case she'd be able to avoid their curiosity. It had been bad enough having to stay in Naru's apartment if she was going to be here for longer then she'd have to find a better place to stay so she could avoid 20 questions every morning.

"The case isn't too far away it's about a 3-hour drive North in one of the dense forests. There isn't much to go on, the Adachi family, mum, dad and 3 children." He said gesturing to the file on the table, "recently the eldest teenage boy fell-"

"PUSHED" Mai shouted, Naru glared at her

"He was pushed down the stairs in the house while the rest of his family was outside."

"Are you sure this is something we can help with? He didn't just slip?" Monk asked

"That was my first thought but with more consideration I think it's something more sinister than that" Naru finished

Mai snorted 'yeah thanks to me' she thought "What other supernatural things have been happening?" Monk asked

"Not an awful lot, temperature changes, furniture being moved from one place to another and the eldest boy being pushed down the stairs is all we have to go on." Naru stated

"So no history from previous owners?" Monk asked

"We haven't contacted the previous owners yet as we don't have the contact details, we'll do that once we are there" Naru said "We'll leave tomorrow morning at 9am sharp, don't be late" he finished with a glare at Mai

Mai rolled her eyes "Don't look at me, I'll leave now and meet you guys there" she pushed herself off the wall, strolled up to the table grabbed a copy of the case details and tucked it into her pocket. When she turned to leave Masako spoke

"Mai… we were hoping to ask you some questions"

"Yeah and I'm hoping to win the lottery, fix my face and become a pop star but you don't always get what you want" Mai responded despite that she stood in place at the table. "You can ask me questions but I can't guarantee that I'll answer them all"

"How's your wound?" Ayako asked

"Fine" Mai said, in truth she hadn't even bothered to check when she'd woken up this morning, usually wounds would just heal themselves up quickly because of her latent powers. She hadn't had any to this bad an extent before but she couldn't feel any major pain so she assumed it was fine.

"Either way I'd like to change the bandage on it again" Ayako said

"It'll be fine" was all Mai said while staring blankly out the window, her eyes started to glaze over as if she was already bored of the conversation

"Are you coming back to work for SPR?" Mai turned her head so fast that she was surprised it didn't just snap off her neck.

"I'm sorry was that an official invitation?" Mai asked

Naru sighed "Are you or aren't you? I have a lot of paper work to fill out so need to know"

Mai could feel the vein in her head start to pulse "if you are asking if I'll come back to work as your secretary who you can push around and force to make you tea a thousand times a day then no" Mai paused "however I will assist on cases that I have an interest in. I'll make my own way there, I'll do what I like when I like and if you have a problem with that then I'll happily leave and pursue cases elsewhere solo." Mai finished, the whole group had turned to look at Naru at this point worried he would say no and Mai would disappear again, knowing the risk Naru simply turned and nodded. The group let out a breath of relief Monk was the next one to speak

"Mai where have you been for the past 3 years?"

"I told you last night I've been working"

"You decided to up and leave without telling any of us so you could go and work cases?" Monk asked. 'Uh oh' Mai thought she was going to have to be careful about what she said next considering how much attention to detail Monk would give.

"Yes. Since Naru had to go back to England and everyone was going their separate ways I figured I'd continue on my own" Mai finished

"What?! Where did you live? What about money? Or school for that matter? You didn't even graduate Mai" Monk asked again

Mai had had enough already "Look I did what I had to do" she said while standing up "It's in the past so let's just deal with the case. I'll leave tonight and meet you all there"

"Actually Mai I think it would be better if we all arrived together" Naru said

"Why's that?" Mai asked arms folded over her chest

"No offence Mai but you don't exactly scream rainbows and pixie dust anymore" Yasu chimed in

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" She asked narrowing her eyes

"It just means that given your…. appearance… it might look a bit dodgy if you turn up at night by yourself to inspect their house" Yasu finished

Mai huffed "Fine, I'll wait until morning and join you guys instead" it wasn't the first time she'd had to change plans because of her appearance and cases with kids never ended well with the mask so she'd probably have to make peace with being the jackass who wears sunglasses inside. "Is that all or can I go?" she asked

"We were planning on doing some research and discussing the case before tomorrow but feel free to do what you want" Naru responded. Mai sighed again she had been planning on leaving early, stopping by her old apartment to see what state it was in, heading to the case and then catching a few hours sleep since she still felt exhausted.

"Sure" was all she said, she grabbed her bag from the door and pulled her laptop out, since the SPR office was still in the same layout she decided to sit at her old desk rather than next to anyone at the table. She made her way to the kitchen to make herself some coffee, pulling a small flask of alcohol from her pocket she topped the coffee up, she never saw herself drinking alcohol at 10 in the morning but sometimes it was the only thing that took the edge off her nerves. The alcohol especially helped when she was around a lot of people, there was always the budding fear that he'd find her again, being around more people increased the risk. She made her way back to the desk and pulled out the information she'd found late last night.

"Mai could you bring us some tea?" Naru called from across the table

'The nerve!' Mai thought "No. But I'm sure you know where the kitchen is, I mean you are a genius so even after 3 years away you should still remember where the kitchen is" Mai finished. She didn't have to look over from the laptop screen to know that Naru was glaring at her.

 _8 Hours Later_

Mai sighed and stretched she hadn't moved in the past 8 hours and it hadn't been a smart idea. All she'd been able to come up with was that the Adachi family had moved into the family house around 18 years ago, it was a small village that was surrounded by woodland and the house was brand new when they moved into it. Mai had plenty of theories but until they got to the house there wouldn't be much to go, judging from the mood of the rest of the room they were all thinking the same thing. Silently packing away her things she made her way to the door, turning around to check no one was watching she snuck out of the room with her bag. She pulled down her sunglasses and collar up and made her way to her old apartment.

 **General P.O.V**

Monk looked up "any bets as to where she's off to?"

"Maybe there's some orphans that need false hope or puppies that need to be kicked" Yasu replied

"Woooow dude! Not cool, I don't think she's that bad" Monk replied

Yasu pushed his glasses up his nose "please if I didn't know any better I'd say she was a trained assassin with the way she dresses"

Masako let out a laugh "well I can't imagine that she has had a pleasant 3 years"

"Why would you say that Masako?" Ayako asked her

"Sometimes mediums can pick up certain auras that people emit, a bit like how you can feel if a spirit is holding a grudge etc normally you can't feel anything from people but on occasion when someone has gone through something whether it is happy or sad or fear you can feel it from then."

"So you pick something up from Mai?" Monk asked

"Yes, but it isn't a feeling, it's more like a haze"

"What do you mean?" Monk asked again

"It's almost like there is a smoke cloud around her. It's not a grudge but it's something that is stuck to her, clouding around her" Masako finished

"So you think something bad has happened to her?" Monk asked

"I don't know but she is a completely different person from who she was, people don't change that drastically without something interfering with them" Masako said

 **Mai P.O.V**

Mai slowly made her way through the streets and decided to walk through the park that was close to her old apartment building, it had started raining lightly which help Mai blend in more. People were less likely to look at someone wearing sunglasses at 7 at night when they were too busy running for cover. She took her time walking through the park appreciating the smell of flowers that lingered and how the rain helped to cool her spinning head down. This was something she had avoided for the past two years but she needed to do this, to see the place where she use to live to return to everything she once knew. Even though her apartment had been vacant for the 3 years as soon as she'd gotten away from…him… she'd been sending money to keep the apartment in her name but didn't have the stomach to return to it until now.

She looked up at the building, it was the same standard as it had been in before, with shaky legs she climbed the stairs slowly. Her boots echoed loudly over the chipped and cracked paint, she stopped when she reached her door, the number 5 sat squint on the neglected door. Raising her hand up Mai straightened the number before clamping her hand onto the metal door handle, she suddenly heard a high pitched screamed. Without even flinching Mai closed her eyes. She knew that the scream belonged to her but it was from past her, this is what she had feared the most about coming back her the visions she would have to experience because of her PK.

'Suck it up Mai' she told herself 'it's in the past you can't change what's happened' with that thought she opened her eyes and pushed the door open, the wood creaked and groaned against her weight but opened to reveal the small, dark apartment. While Mai stepped into the hallway the first thing she noticed was the giant claw marks on the back of the door, she let her eyes trail from them to the other ones littering the walls along with several dried blood stains. Good to know no one ever thought to check on the place or clean it she thought while walking through to the living room. The place was very bare but what was left had been stranded in broken pieces. Her once loved coffee table was in two, cups lay shattered around it and the tea had left permanent stains in the rug.

She moved through to the cramped kitchen only to be hit by a rancid smell, she'd expected this given that the flat had been empty for 3 years, running to the window she heaved it open to let in some fresh air while she examined the rest of the rooms. She hadn't left much lying around her apartment when she had tried to leave, she knew it was coming so for safety she'd moved everything of importance to a storage facility and retrieved everything she needed 2 years ago. Not that she had much, everything she owned or cared about she now had in her bag, everything else had been chucked away or burnt for safety. The bathroom was the still the same except for the damp smell.

Mai's stomach heaved when she saw the state of the bedroom however, the door was completely ripped in two, her old quilt had been torn apart so white fluff littered the room, her vision blurred as she saw the leftover blood marks from her struggle. Everything started to spin as memories played before her eyes, the stale smell started to choke her while her eyes burned. She could feel it, his hands on her arms, panicking she kicked out and stumbled to the ground while clutching her head. Each flash came with a searing pain that cut like a knife through her skull, _loud crashes filled the apartment while Mai tried to flee from her room, his hands tried to grab onto her and they struggled against each other. Mai managed to lunge out and get free of him but while she fled to the hallway a howl caught her attention and she was flung down the hallway. She felt claws rip into her arms and legs leaving trails of blood along the hallway, she fought against the invisible creature as best she could. Finally she reached the doorway, grabbing the china vase she brought it down over the things skull or at least what she hoped was its skull, scrambling up she made a break for it out of the apartment door and tried to run as fast as her legs could take her._

Reality came crashing back down on Mai and her vision turned back round to the peeling wallpaper across from her. She could feel her heart pounding against her rib cage, adrenaline rushed through her veins and her head was pulsing. Pulling herself up her vision was completely red which meant that her eyes had bled and bled badly, she could feel that her eyes were still bleeding and her right eye felt like it was on fire. On shaky legs she walked back through to the box shaped living room, she slid down the wall across from the door way and pulled her legs close up to her chest. Everything inside her told her to run but she knew that she had to let herself calm down and focus to help her deal with everything that had happened.

Mai sat there for a while trying to count her breathing, she kept her eyes closed in case anymore visions came to her. Anger started to bubble up in her chest and she could feel her PK spreading through her and out to the floor beneath her. Her already broken table shattered in splinters and the only picture frame that hung on the wall cracked and fell to the floor as quickly as the rage had come on she was replace with a numbing feeling that spread through her limbs. She hugged her legs into her chest and put her head down. The apartment had now started to fall into darkness with the fading daylight and the shadows started to make everything look eerie. Mai felt a cold breeze rush through but didn't bother looking up until she heard footsteps and a voice clear.

"So this is where you ran off too" the male voice spoke. Without responding Mai pushed herself up off the ground and lift her face to look straight at Naru.

 **Naru's P.O.V**

After coming out from his office he saw that everyone was getting up to leave. "See you tomorrow Boss man" Yasu called from the door

"Wait, where is Mai away to?"

"No idea, she sulked off somewhere over an hour ago" Yasu said

"She'll come back when she's ready" Ayako chimed in. 'Yeah right' Naru thought, he waited for the group to leave before going to retrieve his jacket, he stuck his head into Lin's office.

"I'm away out for a bit" He said

"Chasing around after her isn't going to make her feel any more comfortable you know" Lin said without lifting his eyes from his laptop

"…I'm merely concerned with the health of one of our employees nothing more" Naru replied

Lin snorted in response "Alright you just keep lying to yourself then"

Naru responded by shutting the door and leaving the office block. He strolled effortlessly down the stairs and out onto the street, ignoring some of the looks that he got off women as he made his way down the street. He was aware that in the past 3 years he'd changed physically and that women were always throwing themselves at him but he'd had no interest in such trivial things like relationships, his work was the only thing he had any interest in and relationships were pointless. He continued to make his way through the streets, he decided to cut through the local park for quickness. He had a feeling that Mai might have been back at her old apartment, although he'd never been in the place himself he knew exactly where it was and how to get there. He knew that whatever had happened to her must have started there and if Ayako was correct in her abuse theory then as a victim she would retrace her steps to there. He'd felt guilty if he hadn't been so wrapped up with Genes body then maybe he'd have been able to help her, even prevent whatever happened to her happening. For some reason, it still hurt him to think that she had been in love with Gene despite the fact that he was dead, what was even more annoying was the discovery that Gene had decided not to part ways once his body had been found, stubborn was a trait that his twin clung to well.

He finally reached Mai's apartment block, the cold wind had started to stir up and the light drizzle left his untrimmed hair slightly damp, when he reached apartment number 5 he could see that it had been vacant for a while. Opening the door slowly he felt the rush of cold wind follow him into the apartment, he stepped in and shut the door as he turned around his eyes widened slightly, dark blood stains and claw marks were dotted all over the cramped hallway. It wasn't the type of place he could picture Mai living in, the walls were bare and it was devoid of anyway colourful he knew she'd been on her own for a while before she joined SPR but he expected her apartment to be filled with typical teenage girl stuff. He walked slowly down the hallway until he came to what he presumed use to be the living room, he could see the room was trashed with wooden splinters and glass lying all over the place. At the other side of the room sat Mai, all dressed in black and hunched over.

"So this is where you ran off to?" He asked. He watched slowly as she pulled herself up off the ground, her head hung low so her hair was covering her face, her muscles moved slowly as if they were supporting a huge weight, lifting her head up Naru almost jumped back but caught himself at the last minute. Trails of bright red blood were running down her white pasty skin, her once crimson eyes were bloodshot and tinted in red and the scar running down the right side of her face was the same shade of the blood. The fading light gave her face plenty of shade and if he hadn't known any better he would have thought she was a ghost.

"Yeah what of if" Mai replied, her eyes looked vacant and empty

"Well before you sneak off it would be nice to know where you are going, you know given that you are currently living in my spare room" Naru said. Mai just stared at him blankly and he could see that whatever had happened the past few hours had drained her, she went to step forward and swayed slightly. Stepping forward he put his hands on her shoulders, since he stood just under a foot taller than her it was easy enough. "Sit down while I go and find something to wipe that blood off of your face" surprisingly enough she sat back down on the floor while Naru left the room. He raided the kitchen but found nothing, he was lucky enough to find an old towel in the bath room and brought it back through to the living room. He sat down in front of Mai and reached up to wipe the blood off her face. Mai's hand shot up and snatched the towel from him, she leaned back against the wall and pressed her face into the towel. "Do your eyes always bleed when you use your PK?" Naru inquired

Moving the towel away from her face Mai looked down at it inspecting the blood "Not always, it's usually just with personal stuff or when I over use my PK" she answered focusing on the red dots that covered the once white towel.

'Personal stuff' Naru thought, he was right then, whatever had happened to her 3 years ago had obviously started in her apartment. He looked around the room while they sat across from each other in silence. "Mai.." Naru said

She turned her gaze onto him "Yes Naru?"

"What happened here?" He asked

Mai swallowed and let her eyes scan the room before returning back to him, she went to open her mouth but closed it and shook her head. "We all have a past Naru, some things are good and some things…not so much" she said while gesturing to the room, "you want to know what happened? Well tough, you picked up and left, you don't get to know every intimate detail of my life just because you are back." She paused while making direct eye contact at him "you have to earn back the trust you broke Naru before you get any information from me"

 **Mai's P.O.V**

Silence landed between Mai and Naru, they were both sitting staring at each locked into a stale mate. It was a good thing that Mai was so exhausted and blood stained otherwise her face would have turned 7 different shades of red from the attention from Naru. Unfortunately all she felt was betrayal and exhaustion at the current moment, feeling vulnerable in front of anyone made Mai feel sick to her stomach, being on her own was her prerogative and she had managed to throw that out the window for the past 3 weeks. Naru's staring made her shift uncomfortably and she decided to break eye contact first "look I had some personal business to take care of and you caught me at a bad moment" she said

"You seem to have gotten yourself into a lot of bad moments recently" Naru remarked

Mai glared at him "I'd like to point out that I was doing just fine before you decided to pop up again"

"Fine? Really? This is what you call fine?" Naru shouted while gesturing to the room around him

"What's that suppose to mean?" Mai shouted back

"Oh I don't know, perhaps the fact that you are sulking around by yourself, in the middle of the night with several weapons, you don't have any sort of paper trail, not to mention the fact that you are covered in scars from god only knows what!" Naru shouted

Mai flinched and started to panic "YEAH well you left! What was I meant to do?! Just sit around and wait for you to come back?! Pine like some pathetic little girl over you and pray that you come back?! Well news flash for you Naru the world doesn't revolve around you and I did what I had to do to survive. If that means I work on cases by myself and sulk around at night then guess what? That's what I'm going to do!" She shouted back, both of them just stood looking at each other. Mai could see that her words had hit him hard but didn't care, she was broken and trying to sew herself back together in whatever way possible, discussing everything that had happened to her wasn't going to help at all.

"Look Naru you got what you wanted, I'm back here and I'm helping out SPR. Isn't that enough?" Mai asked

Naru being Naru just turned around, said "let's just go back to the office" and started to leave. 'Prick' Mai thought, despite still feely shaky and drained she went to shut the kitchen window, grabbed her bag and locked the door on the way out. It was still a far way off from feeling safe again but it was the only place that she could truly call her own for now. Her and Naru walked in silence back to the SPR apartment block, before her legs would have been barely able to keep up with him but now they could walk in pace with him.

Getting back to the apartment Naru disappeared in his office room and left Mai to stand alone in the living room. Mai went to the spare room and threw her bag across it, it landed with a crash next to the window, she then started to pace frantically. 'Is this what he wanted?' To let her get close to people she use to know before ripping her away from it again. Or was he hoping she'd drive herself crazy working on cases? Maybe he thought that by working with people she knew then she'd put herself in danger and end up dead? Mai couldn't be sure but he was always after something she knew that much. Mai had been held captive with him for a whole year and he was a master manipulator, whatever he wanted he got, she'd only been able to get away from him by pure luck. She could still feel his breath on her skin and voice in her ears ' _Maiiii channnn_ ' it whispered to her.

"Shut up! Shut up!" She shouted at the empty room around her

' _Maii channn_ ' the voice taunted her, the laugh to follow made Mai's hairs stand on end and a chill run up her spine. She wrapped her arms around her torso and remembered that she was covered in blood from earlier. She decided to hit the shower since it had been a while since she'd had a decent wash and a bathroom with proper water pressure had been a distant memory. Slipping into the bathroom she was met with more black tiles, she was surprised Naru's apartment hadn't slipped into a black hole with the way he decorated. Although she could now understand his obsession with the shade, it helped to make you feel invisible and comfortable at the same time.

Pulling her tank top up over her head she assessed the damage in the large square mirror above the sink. All that was left was an angry red line, it still stung but wasn't open anymore and that was all that mattered. She almost burst out laughing at her own reflection, her brown hair was tangled and frankly a complete mess, she had dried blood all over the bottom of her face and she was so pale and washed out she was surprised Naru hadn't tried to throw holy water over her or stab her with a wooden stake. She stepped into the warm water and let it try to sooth her now aching muscles, she stretched out and could see that she was all lean muscle and bone. The only other thing that accompanied her otherwise bland appearance were the scars that dotted over her body, some small and some bigger all from her time held in captivity with him. She promised herself that if she ever found him again she'd rip him limb from limb so no one else had to suffer at his hands. She was deep in thought when a knock came from the bathroom door.

"Mai, I've ordered us dinner it'll be here in about 20 minutes" Naru called through the bathroom door.

"Alright, I'll be out shortly" she replied, turning off the water she stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself. She made it back into the spare bedroom and tipped her bag out onto the bed looking for something to put on. Her hair was dripping all over the place, while she rummaged through her stuff it was obvious that she desperately needed to wash things. There was a knock at the door and Naru strolled in. "Yes?" She asked turning around and standing up straight

Naru stood for a few seconds, turned a slightly red colour and turned his face away "I eh… thought you'd want to know that Ayako left some clothes for you in the dresser"

"Great, thanks" Mai said, she noticed that he was slightly red in the face "what's this? The great Naru who use to have to beat girls off with a stick is embarrassed by a girl in a towel?" Although Mai was fairly modest and the towel covered up everything she couldn't pass up the chance to piss Naru off some more.

Naru cleared his chest and said "trust me Mai I'm not embarrassed but you might want to put on some clothes since that towel leaves very little to the imagination"

Mai looked straight down and didn't realise that it was slightly more see through than she thought, she grabbed the closest thing to her which was a hair brush and launched it at him while screaming "then get the hell out of the room you pervert!" Naru smirked dodged the brush and made a quick exit.

Mai cursed him under her breath while making her way to the dresser, Ayako had left her several pairs of underwear and a few dresses along with plenty of black leggings and baggy t-shirts. Grabbing the closest top and leggings she shoved them on, she then attempted to do something with her hair which she threw up in a wet messy bun at the top of her head, 'that'll have to do' she thought while grabbing all the dirty clothes she had lying around. She was becoming slightly more use to Naru's apartment and made her way to the kitchen, "I'm assuming you have a washing machine? Or does Lin do all your cleaning as well?" Mai asked Naru who was dividing up take away food.

"It's over there" he said pointing behind him to one of the counters, Mai loaded up the washing machine and stuck it on. It would be good to have clean clothes without having to visit a laundry matt and sit waiting on them washing and drying.

…..

Mai and Naru sat in silence at either end of the dining room table, having eaten in silence, cleaned up in silence, Naru now sat reading a newspaper while Mai inspected her nails out of boredom. Every so often she'd look and catch Naru looking at her, "I can put my mask on if you'd prefer?" she ask him

He looked over the top of the newspaper "Pardon?"

"My scar, I can put my mask or sunglasses on if it makes you uncomfortable, since you seem to be looking over here an awful lot. I know it makes most people uneasy, so if you'd prefer I can cover it"

Naru went back to his paper "do whatever you feel like" Mai huffed and stood up from the table. She turned away and made her way to the huge glass doors that led onto the balcony, sliding it open she stepped out into the cold air, the city always looked beautiful at night and the lights dotted the skyline, she decided to sit outside and enjoy the night air for a while.

 ** _7.00 am the next day_**

Mai must have fallen asleep outside but she woke up lying in the bed in the spare room again, she assumed that Naru must have moved her in her unconscious state, she was surprised he didn't leave her to freeze outside all night. Mai was up and ready within minutes to leave for the case, her bag was packed and she clipped on her mask and then pulled on her helmet. She said very little when she left the apartment, as expected Naru and Lin were sitting in the base sorting out all the equipment, Yasu and Monk had arrived early to help them. Mai nodded at them on her way past them on the stairs and down to the garage, as soon as she saw her bike she felt herself perk up a bit, ridding on the roads with it always helped her clear her head and calmed her down. Jumping on she revved the engine and flew out of the garage, she sped along the roads almost twice faster than the limit, speeding around and dodging cars along the way made it even more fun.

 ** _10 am_**

Mai had arrived in the area long before the group had even left, she had decided to scope the place out and found that it was a village nestled in amongst the hills. Woods rolled on and on for miles around, despite this the houses and facilities that made up the place were all very high tech. She'd made her way to the local library to see if she could dig up some history of the area.

 ** _12:30pm_**

Mai sighed and gave up on her library research, there had been very little about the area surrounding the village and the only decent thing she'd dug up was that a lot of the villagers and houses had been descendants of the upperclassmen who use to rule this area in the Heian period but given that that was over a thousand years ago Mai felt it wasn't particularly relevant or useful. She had already parked at the house and walked into the village so she would be less obvious, making her way out of the library she cut across what she could only imagine were the local shops, given how fancy and modern the houses were around here it would be surprising if they owners actually went to the shops themselves or if they had the servants go instead. Making her way around the shops she pushed through the trees and bushes on her hike up to the house

By the time, she made it back to the house she could see the black SPR van and Ayako's car which must mean that everybody was here for the case. Far off behind Mai could see her beloved motorbike hiding underneath an overgrown pine tree, she made her way over to it and lifted up her bag from the back of it. She then proceeded to head inside the very standard house, unlike the other homes dotted around this part of land this one wasn't unnecessarily big which meant the family living inside were well off but not famous or insanely rich. Mai didn't even bother to ring the door bell or wait to be escorted, instead she let her PK enhance her hearing and followed the noise to where the group were currently setting up the equipment. The hallway was a large L shape that started off at the front door, went straight along and past the staircase and then turned off to reach the kitchen, to the right was a large living room and to the left a dining room. Continuing along the hall way Mai saw that there was a door under the stair case, she passed what looked like a library, turning the corner she could see that at the far end was the kitchen which lead outside no doubt and just before that was another room that she could hear the group banging around in.

She open the door to find the room in a chaotic mess, she tried not to laugh at how long it always took SPR to get ready for a case, with Ayako and Monk fighting each other, Yasu winding them up, Masako sitting refusing to do anything, John trying to fix the problem, Lin working on his laptop and Naru giving everyone daggers. She could feel the nostalgia.

"Nice of you to finally join us" Naru said, Mai shrugged and plopped herself down on the couch, she'd kept her sunglasses on all day since she was told that there were two young children in the house that she didn't want to freak out.

"Well since I apparently scare the shit out of everyone I thought it would be better to hang back and arrive later" Mai replied from her seat making a snide comment at Yasu

"Mai we didn't mean it like that" Monk started to say

"It's fine. I'm not stupid, there's a reason I do most of my work at night" Mai responded, she pulled out a book from her bag and opened it while letting the group continue on with set up. If Mai had been feeling generous she could have helped but she was too caught up in her own personal quest and frankly it was fun not having to do the scud work for once. Returning back to the book she'd found in the library she'd started to lose track of the number of spiritual and supernatural books she'd read but on the off chance that her captor found her again she wanted to be as prepared to fight him as she could be.

She felt the couch move as Monk threw himself onto it. "Done!" He said throwing his arms up dramatically, "what you reading there Kiddo?" he asked Mai responded by turning the book face in his direction "Ancient creatures and myths" he read "that sounds…fascinating"

"I like to be prepared for anything when working" Mai responded

"Really? If I recall getting you to read the case files was a chore" Yasu smirked across from them

"Yeah but have you read Naru's writing? Boooorrrrring" Mai exaggerated, Yasu just smiled

"So where were you actually before we got here?" he asked

"Always so perceptive Yasu aren't you? Since you asked I was away looking up some history of this house" – she reached down and pulled a thin file out of her bag – "this is what we already know, this is what I found out" she handed Yasu the piece of paper with all the information she could find earlier, before Yasu could respond there was a knock at the door and a slender woman stepped in

"sorry to bother you all but I thought it would be good for introductions since you'll be here for the next few days at least" The woman said while walking into the room, behind her were two small girls and an older teenage boy. The group stood up to introduce themselves but Mai stayed sitting, the mother seemed to be perfectly pleasant and all 4 of them shared the same bright blonde curly hair, the two young girls were about 2 years apart in age, Fumi being the older child and Aimi the youngest. While the introductions were going on Mai couldn't help but notice that the boy seemed strange, for some reason it put her back up and something seemed off.

"Mommy…Who's the lady in the sunglasses?" Aimi asked, her mum turned to look at Naru

"Miss Adachi this is my…associate M –"

"Miss Crimson you can call me Crimson" She said while reaching out for the mothers hand after shaking her hand Mai sidestepped around the mother to face Hiroki. He had a similar build to his mum but his eyes were light rather than dark and at the moment they were clouded over "and you must be Hiroki" she said while stretching out her hand. Hiroki shifted his gaze from the other side of the room to Mai and then to his mother

"Hiroki don't be rude, these are the people who are here to help" reluctantly he stuck his hand out, Mai could see a few faded bruises on his arm, not to mention the one that was currently stretched across his cheekbone. Mai closed her fingers around his palm and wrist that's when she felt it, it was underneath the boys skin but it was definitely there, a rippling hatred that was bubbling away. Slowly she pulled him in to her side so she could whisper in his ear

"I don't know who you are but you aren't Hiroki, would you like to tell me what you are doing here?" She asked. Hiroki leaned in close and Mai could feel his breath on her ear

"This doesn't concern you woman and I suggest you don't get in my way" suddenly his grip on Mai's arm tightened and he smirked, Mai saw it coming a split second before he threw his arm out with a scalpel blade in it. The scalpel swung down and Mai managed to dodge it by hopping back slightly, the blade still cut at her abdomen. On reflex Mai yanked his other arm out and then slammed it into his back while grabbing onto his collar.

"Hiroki what are you doing?! His mother shouted

"Get the girls out of the way" Monk said while Miss Adachi and Ayako grabbed one of them each.

"Who are you?" Mai asked again while pulling on the back of his collar to navigate him backwards. Instead of answering he laughed and swung the blade around him again, Mai let go of his other hand and grabbed the blade with her bare hand, turning his arm around she flipped him over her back and onto the ground. Landing straight onto his chest she put the blade straight up against his neck, she shifted her weight so that he could still breath but pushed down slightly on the blade to get his attention. His bright eyes were still dull which usually happens during a possession, "alright why don't you cut the crap and tell us who you are?" She asked "Let me remind you that you are in no position to argue" as a reminder she pressed the blade down slightly. She could hear his mother shouting in the background while Lin and Monk were trying to interfere with what she was doing but it was all white noise that she drowned out.

"You're all in my way" Hiroki spat before his eyes rolled back in his head and his body went limp, Mai took this chance to spring up off of him, holding onto his hand she reached out but couldn't feel the presence that was there earlier.

"Whatever that was it's gone for now" She said letting go of his hand and turning to the group, the mother flew to his side

"Oh my god, what happened? Is he alright?!" She said. Mai bent down beside her and reached over to put a hand on her shoulder

"He'll be fine, it might be a lot to take in but whatever is in your house did that to him"

"Whatever is in our house? What does that mean?" she currently had tears running down her cheeks and Mai could see that the girls were huddling next to each other in the background

"Mai" Naru said to her in a silent warning

"Miss Atachi, now isn't the right time to discuss this, Ayako is a doctor so she can check your son over to make sure he's alright and once everyone has calmed down we can discuss what just happened if you like" Mai said calmly. To be honest Miss Atachi was handling this much better than she expected, she'd just seen her son pull out a blade attempt to stab someone and then get his butt kicked. Ayako rushed over to examine him, Mai pulled back to let her in while Monk came up behind her

"Are you alright?" he asked

She turned to him slowly "Yeah I'm fine" she said, lucky she still had her sunglasses on, although they were custom made to fit on regardless of the situation.

"He's fine but just unconscious, there wasn't any damage done to him. The best thing to do would be to move him to his room and leave him to wake up by himself" Ayako said. Lin moved over and hoisted the teenager up onto one shoulder

"I'll show you where his room is" his mother spoke

"Miss Adachi, what is it your husband does?" Mai asked before she left with Lin and Ayako

"My…my husband? Oh he's an investment banker" she said before turning away

"Why are you asking that now?" Monk asked

"Because if his dad is an investment banker and his mom stays at home to look after the girls, then where did he get a surgery scalpel from?" she asked holding up the blade in front of Monk.

 ** _30 Minutes later…_**

Hiroki had been left upstairs in his bed to recover, his mom had listened to the explanation that Naru had decided to give since and Mai quotes 'you have no social skills when it comes to people so just stay silent'. She snorted, as if the king narcissist could give her a lecture on social skills. She'd taken the two girls through to the kitchen to cook something to take her mind off what happened and now the group sat in the base throwing around ideas while Mai sat silently at the end of the couch. Her abdomen cut had been nothing more than a graze so it was completely healed by now. They'd already run around putting up the cameras and taking the first temperature readings and nothing had come up unordinary.

"So we are obviously dealing with a vengeful spirit right?" Monk stated

"I'd say so yeah" Yasu agreed

"But what would be tying it to here? This house is brand new and they are the first family to live here" Ayako chimed in

While they continued with the discussion Mai took a moment to assess the room, everyone still looked the same as they had the other day but there had been a shift in the atmosphere, everyone seemed less tense and slightly more easy going. She stood up and moved over to the computer screens where Lin and Naru sat, saying nothing she scanned over the screens. There were several cameras place around the house and each camera showed that there was nothing eventful going on around the house.

Sighing Mai decided to make some coffee, she turned and went to the kitchen. Pulling out everything she needed to make herself something and also a kettle to make tea for the group she left the water to boil and looked out the patio windows. Outside the weather had lifted and sunshine was coming through the clouds, the mom and two girls were sitting outside. Opening the door Mai shouted out

"Miss Atachi, can I get you something to drink?"

"No thank you Miss Crimson we are quite alright" she said back, closing the door Mai turned back to the stove to retrieve her drinks. Mai went back to the base with all the drinks and went back to researching about the case. Her thoughts were interrupted by Monk

"Mai, you said the scalpel didn't belong to anyone in the house?"

"Yes I did" Mai answered

"Do you think it's important?" Monk asked

"Hmm not particularly but given that the only place he could have gotten it would have been from school it tells us that he'd been possessed for a few days" Mai finished

"It must be a strong spirit to be able to be in possession for that length of time" Monk finished

"Yes and no" Naru interrupted from his computer seat "it's either a strong spirit or a spirit that has a very strong grudge"

"Well grudges can push people to do ridiculous and moronic things" Mai said making direct contact at Naru. Turning away she shut down her laptop and lay back on the long, padded footstool, leaning her head against the wall at the back of her she felt herself being tugged into unconsciousness.

 _Dreamworld_

Mai opened her eyes to find herself lying exactly where she was five seconds ago, sitting up she realised that this wasn't the same place. The whole world looked red and the walls were pulsing.

"Hey Gene?" She shouted. No reply "Gene! Are you there?" She shouted again still no reply. She moved off of her seat to examine the walls, she touched it and brought her hand back only to be welcomed by blood. 'Ewww' she thought 'well if they were going for dramatic then they certainly got it right'. Cautiously Mai walked through the door only to be brought to a single long hallway, it looked like one of those illusions that went on forever and ever. Mai started to walk down the hallway, slowly she could hear her breath coming in and out, after a few minutes she thought she heard foot steps behind her but turning around there was no one there. Again she continued down the hallway and the footsteps echoed and again she turned around to be faced by nothing. Mai started to panic, her heart was pounding and she could feel beads of sweat rolling down her face. Turning around she started to run, again the footsteps behind her continued, faster and faster she ran, not willing herself to turn around again. She kept going until she eventually reached the end of the hallway, throwing herself through the door that was there she landed hard on the other side.

Slowly she picked herself up off the ground and dusted herself off, the door she came through had disappeared and in its place stood an old stone wall. Looking around Mai could see she now stood in an old ballroom, one that kings and queens would have thrown feasts in. Tall grey pillars had pale material draped around them and on the other side there were glass windows running the whole way along, slowly she made her way to the middle of the room, the moonlight pierced through the darkness and cast shadows all over the room. At the top end of the room there were a small set of stairs that led up to a grand throne, the throne was faced away from Mai but she made her way up to it. Gently she walked around to the other side of the throne and the sight she was met with made her scream.

Sitting in the seat was Mai but this Mai was broken, her hair was a mess and matted, she was skin and bones, her nails were broken and bleeding, her torso had been cracked open like a walnut and her eyes were gone, replaced by black holes. Looking down Mai realised that the white dress that was on the dead Mai in the throne was now also on her.

She started to panic "GENE, if you have anything to do with this I'll kill you! Seriously this isn't funny!" turning she flew down the steps and along the room, that's when she heard it… the laugh that haunted her dreams… the laugh that chased her no matter how far she ran…his laugh…

She swallowed before rotating around. She felt the colour completely drain out of her face and her breath caught in her throat. About 10 feet away from her stood the man she'd spent 2 years trying to run away from. He was gorgeous, with a tall and lean structure, chiselled jawline, locks of dark brown hair that made you want to run your hands through them and eyes you could drown in… that is if you weren't looking hard enough but Mai had, she knew that those eyes were empty and soulless, there was nothing there except for pure evil.

"This…this is possible" she whispered 'he couldn't be here, if he showed up it was always in memories but this was different' she thought

"I did always say I'd find you again" Mai shrunk back as he spoke

"Why are you here, Damien?" she asked knowing full well she wouldn't like the answer

Taking a few steps forward Mai could see that he was wearing a black tailored suit, it made his skin look even paler, "I missed you" he said opening his arms up as if he was gesturing her to hug him.

"Bullshit!" Mai spat "How did you find me and what do you want?!"

"Now now Mai, you might want to calm down." He said while crossing the space between them. He was right up to Mai's face and she could feel her heart pounding against her chest. Reaching out he put his hand through part of her hair "it hurts me when you accuse me of lying about my intentions you know"

"Let go of me" Mai said through barred teeth. Smirking Damien tightened his grip on her head and pull her face up to be in line with his

"These two years away have made you very feisty, haven't they?" he asked, Mai could see the dark centre of his eyes and shivered at the emptiness they held.

"I said let me go!" she shouted at him, slowly Damien let go of her hair and dropped his hand "if there is nothing you want then I'm leaving" she said and turned to walk away

"Mai…I wouldn't do that if I were you" he said

"Why is that?"

"Because even though I don't know your location I can easily find out where you are and then you're little friends won't be safe anymore" he said. This forced Mai to turn back around

"Fine. What exactly are you after?" she asked

"Come and dance with me Mai" he said the next thing she knew he'd pulled her into a slow waltz, she could feel his hand on the small of her back pulling her closer to him. Mai forced herself to look up at him, she couldn't deny that he was unbelievably attractive but that's what made him the perfect predator. The contact from him made her skin crawl and everything inside her was screaming to run away but if he had found her then she was going to have to put up a fight against him, she tried to reach for her PK but was stopped. "I thought you would have learnt by now that in this plane you can't use your powers Mai" he said with a twisted smile "plus you know you can never get rid of me, I taught you everything you know"

Mai smirked "I did it once, I can do it again"

Suddenly Damien let out a laugh "Ah yes your little stunt did prove rather productive, you seem to forget that and I quote using your own words that you didn't have anything left to live for then – he spun her out and brought her back to him again – but now well you wouldn't want your little friends to get hurt would you?" he asked

"You wouldn't" Mai said

"Do you really have to ask that?" he replied. They continued to slowly step around the hall in silence while Mai considered her options, even if she didn't have all her powers here the chances were she was astral projecting and if she could focus on getting back to her body then she could stop this conversation. Unfortunately that meant she had to try and get away from him and that was easier said than done. 'Gene if you can hear me I'd really appreciate some help right now' she thought. Damien and Mai had slowed down and were now swaying, Mai could feel his hands on her hips and she had her arms around his neck. "You know I've missed you these past 2 years Mai" he said looking straight into her eyes, fighting the urge to turn around and throw up Mai leaned in closer to him

"Really?" She asked, looking him straight in the eyes she lifted herself up onto her toes, their faces were so close she could feel his breath on hers

"Really" he whispered before leaning in to touch her lips with his. Mai felt her pulse race and she could taste how sweet his lips were, sighing she pushed herself further into him and he tightened his grip on her… **_Crunch_** … Mai clamped down hard on his lip until she could taste blood. Damien yanked his head back "You little- "but before he could finish Mai swung her head forward and collided with his, he doubled over and Mai took this opportunity to bring her knee up into his chest. While he sputtered, and fell over Mai spun on her heel and flew down the room to the door she'd came out of as her hand reached around the door handle she was yanked backwards by her hair. Screaming she tried to pull away, "You bitch, do you think you can get away from me?!" Damien shouted

"I've done it before I'll do it again! LET GO OF ME!" She screamed back at him. His hand came around to reach across her neck and she sunk her teeth into his arm, shouting and reeling back he let go of her and Mai ran from him. Yanking the door open she fled down the corridor and swung back into the living room where her unconscious self was lying. She grabbed her shoulders and started to shake her "MAI WAKE UP" "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WAKE UP NOW" she yelled while violently shaking her.

 **Naru's P.O.V**

While the group had been busy organising and trying to make sense of the information they had gotten from the Adachi's they'd noticed Mai had fallen asleep.

"Looks like someone's tired" Monk said

"Hey maybe we should draw a moustache or something on her face" Yasu piped in while waving a pen around

"HA, on your head be it! I'm rather found of living" Monk replied

"Boo, you are no fun Monk" Yasu pouted "Should I wake her up?"

"No let her sleep. She's probably still recovering from her wound and I can't imagine she rests well" Ayako chimed in Monk nodded in response

"Speaking of rest what time is it?" he asked

"It's about 10pm" Yasu replied

"Well I think we should call it a day" Monk said

Naru looked over in response "yes, all of you head to bed and get some rest" the group slowly shuffled off and cleared out the room. "Lin why don't you go as well, I'll take the first shift with the cameras"

Lin nodded then paused once he saw Mai "What about Mai?"

Naru turned to see the sleeping girl "I'll leave her to sleep or if she wakes up I'll tell her she can go join the other women." Lin looking satisfied with this answer nodded and left the base, Naru turned around to focus on his laptop while keeping an eye on the monitor screens

2 hours later

Naru was deep in thought when he heard a noise, turning around he saw Mai had managed to slide down completely so she was lying flat on her back on the foot stool. Her hair was all over the place and her eye lids were twitching, that's when Naru realised she must have been dreaming, she was mumbling and twitching while she slept. Naru decided the kind thing to do would be to wake her up and send her to sleep in a proper bed, he also was seeking some revenge after she dropped a case file on his face in the early hours of the morning. Just as he was about to attempt to wake her up she started mumbling again "Gene…" she said. Naru froze, so it was true his idiot of a brother was back and harassing her again… on the other hand maybe he was showing Mai something useful about the case, Naru hovered next to Mai waiting to see if she would say anything else like cloak work she started to mumble again "where…" she started to toss and turn "No" she said "Damien no" and then she screamed. Naru took this opportunity to grab onto her shoulders

"Mai, wake up" he said to her

"No, let me go" she continued to mumble, Naru shook her harder and noticed that she'd started to cry. "Leave them alone" she shouted, her back arched and she screamed again "LET ME GO" Naru grabbed her and shouted

"MAI WAKE UP!"

 **Mai's P.O.V**

Mai opened her eyes to see her face had been replaced with Naru's, she felt his hands on her shoulders and was over whelmed with relief, before thinking about what she was doing she shot up and grabbed onto him, wrapping her arms around his torso and burring her head in his chest. She was shaking violently and couldn't stop herself from crying, she needed some source of comfort and unfortunately Naru was the closet she could get.

 **Naru's P.O.V**

Naru almost fell over when he felt Mai grabbed onto him, he could feel that she was shaking violently and her shoulders were moving up and down suggesting that she was sobbing, slowly he put his arms around her and said nothing. She felt small and thin in his grasp. After a few minutes he felt her pull away slightly, she used the sleeve of her jacket to wipe her face while she shifted back into her seat "um…sorry…" she said sheepishly she hid her face behind her hair and sat slumped forward on the footstool. Naru couldn't help but think that she looked like the old Mai he once knew slightly naïve and innocent, he took this opportunity to sit down next to her.

"Mai…" he started to say. Turning her head he could see that her eyes were red and bloodshot from the crying, her scar ran through her right eye and looked more like a beauty mark than a defect, her eyes were still hazel but had hues of red running through them, "what did you see?" he asked her

 **Mai's P.O.V**

She was still shaking and trying to get over her embarrassment of practically jumping Naru, her heart was pounding in her chest and she could feel the adrenaline running through her veins that made her whole body jumpy. "What did you see?" Naru asked in a whisper, turning to look at him Mai got caught up in the concern in his dark eyes, she'd only ever seen that look once before on the Urado case. She wanted to hug him again to feel the warmth of his arms around her, she felt her face flood with heat and turned her head away. "Mai.." he said again how many times had she dreamed of having him look at her like that, frustrated she groaned while running a hand over her face and through her hair.

"It's…complicated Naru" she said turning to look at him again

"I think I can keep up" Naru said smirking

Mai narrowed her eyes, sighing again she turned her head away from him and focused on the computer screens "it's someone from my past, someone who I thought I'd left behind"

Naru folded his arms across his chest "was it a memory?" he asked

"No" Mai said "it was…I think it was astral projection"

"Was Gene there?" he asked, Mai knew he was going to ask that, she hated to see that even after his death Gene was still hanging around and keeping the wounds open rather than moving on and letting them heal

"No he wasn't" Mai said, she could see the disappointment in Naru's eyes "I tried to shout for him but he didn't appear, I think there was a barrier preventing him from reaching me. It's not uncommon in astral projection, especially if someone is manipulating the plane and they are powerful" Mai finished

Naru nodded in agreement, of course this was the type of thing that Naru was an expert on, you don't write hundreds of books and not have a clue about the subject they are on. Mai stood up and started to pace, if Damien could reach her through her astral projection then it meant that he would harm her and the others, however if he knew exactly where she was then he'd just turn up himself so that meant he was still unsure of the location. This gave Mai the edge, if her and the group could solve this case and move on as quickly as possible then they'd be able to jump ahead of him. Mai was so caught up in her thought process that she didn't even notice that Naru had moved from the seat, she felt his hand on her shoulder, "what are you running from Mai?" he asked her

Mai stopped to face him "it's not a what, it's a who" she said, she didn't want to get any of them involved, dealing with these problems along was her prerogative but if they were in extreme danger and knowing Damien they were, then it would be extremely unkind to at least warn them.

"Who's after you Mai?" Naru asked, he wasn't one to let an issue go and now Mai felt her blood start to boil, she'd dealt with this for 3 years just fine

"Please don't act like you care" she said shrugging his hand off of her shoulder

"You know that I care" Naru said

"Really?! Cause last time I checked you decided to up and leave for England and cut ties with us. That doesn't exactly show a lot of caring does it Naru?" she said her voice was starting to get loud and she could feel the storm starting to stir between the two of them, this was going to end in a screaming match and it would not end pleasantly

"Excuse me?! I'm sorry but in case you've forgotten I had to return to England to bury my dead brother" Naru shouted

"I'm not a moron Naru of course you had to return to do that, did you ever think that maybe as your friends that we wanted to come as well to show our support? That we understand or could relate to what it's like losing a family member and wanted to help you? Did that even cross your mind?" Mai shouted back

Naru's eyes darkened slightly "could you be any more self centred?" he asked

"Me…? Me self-centred?! That's rich coming from you! Clearly the air up on that high horse of yours is thin cause you are obviously delusional! Me, the group, all of us would have been there for you if you'd just given us the chance!" she shouted

"Don't kid yourself Mai, you only wanted to be there cause you were in love with Gene!" He finished, Mai could see the vein pulsing in his neck, his pupils dilating and his chest was heaving, she knew that the subject of Gene always riled him up.

"OF COURSE!" she shouted "That's always what it comes down to isn't it Naru? It's always about Gene, maybe if you could just admit that you were jealous then maybe you'd be able to move on!" Mai knew that this hit him hard

"Jealous? And why an earth would I be jealous of my idiotic brother? While he was busy fooling around and acting like a child I was out getting myself a decent education. Not to mention the fact that he had to go off galivanting and get himself killed! Did he even bother to think about how his trips would affect the rest of us? Of course he didn't!" Naru yelled

There it was Mai thought, this is always what it came down too, Gene. She could feel her temper reaching its limits and she was more than tempted to throw Naru through the lovely glass window across from her. "Hey you might be angry but he didn't exactly plan to go and get killed now did he?"

"Obviously not! But then again he never planned anything, he flounced around life like he does in death, doing whatever he damn well pleases without any consideration to the rest of us!" Naru shouted back

Mai could hear a few footsteps outside the door, obviously their fight had woken up more than one person, 'too late to watch our voice levels' she thought. "Oh please, you know the only reason he's still here is because obviously he cares about you"

"Don't patronise me. He's here because he couldn't move on and we all know the reason for that" Naru said

"What the hell is that meant to mean?!" Mai questioned, she knew exactly where this was going and if they weren't careful they were going to have to resort to physical fighting in a minute

"You know exactly what that means"

"I really don't, why don't you enlighten me? Since making everyone feel like idiots is what you do best"

"Well it wouldn't be so easy if you'd at least educated yourself"

"Yeah well some of us have more important things to do than spend years writing stupid books!" Mai yelled, "so go on then, since you clearly know everything why don't you tell me why your brother is here?"

"You really have no idea?" Naru asked

"NO! FOR GOD SAKES! That's what I've been saying for the last 20 freaking minutes!" Mai growled

"OH COME ON! It's so obvious Mai, even someone with your intellectual abilities should be able to tell"

"THAT'S IT" Mai screamed, she slammed her foot down and straight through the wooden coffee table, blatantly ignoring the crash she had to refrain from punch Naru "Tell me now or I swear the next thing I break will be your legs!"

Naru smirked which made Mai start to see spots of rage "Good to know your ability to control yourself is still the same as a toddler"

"Naru" Mai growled under her breath

"FINE! My idiotic brother is obviously still here because you are in love with him"

"….." there was a pause of silence while the information fell between them like a layer of dust

Mai broke this with an explosion of rage "ARE. YOU. SERIOUS?!"

"YOU ARE HONESTLY THE MOST SENSELESS PERSON I KNOW" She screamed storming out of the room, she turned around to slam the door in his face "YOU NARSISSTIC, BIG HEADED, TEA DRINKING, MORON!" the door frame rattled and left the echoing sound, in the hallway she could see Lin, Ayako and Monk standing in their pyjamas watching her

"Everything alright?" Monk asked sheepishly

Mai whipped her head up, eyes narrow and face red "YES! Everything is fantastic" She took a few steps forward "you can tell your boss where he can shove his jobs" she said while pointing to Lin

Slamming herself past them Monk shouted after her "where are you going?"

"AWAY TO SLAM SOME SENSE INTO MYSELF SINCE I DON'T HAVE NEURONS THAT FIRE APPARENTLY!" she yelled from her way through the door


	12. Chapter 12 Pride Part 3

**Authors note: So sorry for the delay in this last part, I keep getting caught up with some cool scenes for later chapters and then having to fill in all the other details which takes me too long! As always thanks to those of you who have read my writing and please feel free to rate and review! (As usual I don't own Ghost Hunt or the characters, I just make up the storylines for these cases).**

 **General P.O.V**

It was obvious to the rest of the group who had been awoken but shouting that Mai and Naru were at it again. Lin barged into the base first, followed by Monk and Ayako

"Well done Oliver" Lin said in a broad English accent. 'Oops' Naru thought, Lin only spoke in English and called him Oliver when he was mad

"Problem Lin?" he asked

"…Just once could you not get into a screaming match with her?" Lin asked while making his way over to the butchered coffee table "broken furniture made by employees is not covered in our expense report" Naru sighed in response

"It's fine, I'll put it through as an accidental breakage. I'll go get the broom to tidy it up" Naru made his way to pass Lin but Lin grabbed his elbow

"Oliver, you know that isn't the problem. You can't keep pushing her into a corner, it's not helping you, her or us" Lin's eyes narrowed at Naru

"…." Naru said nothing and instead broke out from Lin's grasp and made his way out to the corridor to find a broom.

Monk and Ayako stood awkwardly next to the door, Monk walked cautiously over to the broken table, "this is starting to get more dangerous by the minute"

"Someone with Mai's powers shouldn't be running around screaming and shouting" Ayako chimed in

"I agree, maybe we can talk to her about different training techniques to get them under better control" Monk replied

Ayako walked over to Monk and put her hand on his shoulder, "let's hope so" she said while looking at him with a soft expression.

 **Mai's P.O.V**

Mai breathed in the cold night air when she left the house and stormed through into the forest, she didn't know where she was going but she knew she had to calm down. Despite the dark Mai could see alright from the moonlight without having to use any of her powers, walking quickly she started to head uphill and through the trees. It was obvious that these parts of the forest were untouched as tree roots overgrew and bushes littered the area. Mai pushed through and decided to use her muscles rather than her PK to get through the undergrowth. Mai continued walking until her muscles were screaming at her to stop, her boots were coated in mud, her hair was tangled with leaves and branches, her blood pulsed in her ears and she could hear her own breathing. Spotting a fallen tree she made her way over to it and decided to rest for a few moments. Her heart rate hadn't stopped racing from her argument with Naru and instead was sped up by the exercise, looking up Mai had no idea how far she had gone, the trees stood tall and blocked out the moonlight. Closing her eyes she focused herself on her breathing and tried to reach out to the spiritual energy that encompassed the forest.

 _The trees were dark as Mai ran, she could feel the branches grabbing and ripping at her dress, her hair dragged out behind her as she ran, she whined and let out a scream each time it ripped chunks out of her scalp. Her feet were bleeding and cracked, her chest heaved and her blood pounded in her ears. Once she'd seen the escape she had started running and not stopped. A bird made a noise behind her causing her to jump and then freeze looking around to make sure Damien hadn't caught up to her, slowly she began walking forward again, the snow crunched under her bare feet but she was so numbed she no longer felt the cold. Her ragged white dress was ripped, covered in blood and hung off of her emancipated figure like a loose sheet. Stopping Mai could hear the rush of water, making her way closer to the sound she found a small stream of water. Thirst overcame her and she sunk to her knees and scooped up as much water as she could while trying to quench her thirst. Once she was done she paused noticing her reflection in the water. Her eyes looked drained and bloodshot, black circles surrounded them, her lips were a mixture of blue and red from the cold and the blood. Her hair was long, longer than she'd ever grown it out before but was tangled and messy from lack of care. Her face was the worst she didn't even recognise herself. Her skin was grey, her eyes were still brown but had red flecks in them and the worst part was the ugly red wound that ran down her face. Mai let a sob escape her lips, what had she become. Sitting for a few moments while the cold settled into her bones she finally dragged herself up, hunger and exhaustion fuelled her to keep moving forward._

 _End of flashback_

Mai shivered at the memory while the cold had creeped into her veins in the darkness, she could faintly make out the sunshine coming through the top of the trees indicating that early morning was breaking. Running a hand over her face and through her tangled hair she signed, 'better get back to the case' she was mad at herself, mad for breaking the table, mad for storming out like a teenager and mad for letting Naru get to her. Her self-hatred started to nudge at her, bringing down her self esteem again she started to run through the trees, running from her memories, she ripped through the trees, letting her feet pound against the leaves, dirt and undergrowth. She could hear the pounding heartbeat in her head and feel every shock that rattled her bones when they connected to the ground but she didn't care, she only cared about running. That was what she did best. Running from her feelings, her friends, her life, all of it behind her while she fled. She let the adrenaline fuel her thoughts and push her until she flung herself out from the trees and into the clearing around the house. The sun was now starting to make its way high into the sky and Mai could faintly hear people making their way around the house, exhausted and still feeling frustrated she decided to go get her things and sleep for a few hours. That's when she remembered she'd left her bag in the staff room which meant she'd have to go in and put up with Naru at least. Sighing Mai accepted defeat and slowly made her way back into the house.

 **Group's P.O.V**

The group had just finished breakfast and decided to discuss the case, they all sat or stood around the base.

"So, any ideas on what this spirit wants?" Monk asked

"Nope, Mai's history was extensive" he said gesturing to the folder that sat on the table, "but I can't find anything of significance"

"What's the history of this place?" Masako asked

"Basically, before the Adachi family moved here there was an older couple that had the house for 80 years who had it passed down for generations. I think the records go as far back as the 1400's but before that there was nothing else." Yasu finished

The group paused for a moment

"However," Yasu said "there was one thing that I found rather strange" he looked around before continuing. "All those family generations 600 years' worth, not even one of them gave birth to boys"

"What are you getting at?" Ayako asked

"Well what if there wasn't any other records because the spirit only targets teenage boys?" There was a silence amongst the group. "It is just a suggestion, but Mai's records are pretty consistent and it would make sense as to why the spirit hasn't made any appearance before the Adachi family." Yasu finished, before anyone could say anything the door opened and Mai stepped in. Avoiding eye contact with anyone she silently walked over to where her backpack was, her clothes were stuck to her with sweat, her hair was wind swept and was pulled out of her face, her skin look stretched and her eyes had bags under them. What the group was surprised at was the fact that she had abandoned her glasses and mask, her scar stood out strong against her pale skin like a lone light in the darkness. Mai whipped her head around

"What? Never seen a scar before?" she snapped, obviously frustrated she stomped over to the door to leave

"Going to throw a tantrum, again are you?" Naru smirked, Mai stopped in front of the door. The air started to freeze around the group and they held their breath while Mai turned around. Her scar had gone slightly redder now.

"No. Unlike some people I don't always act like a stroppy child when things don't go my way." She snapped back, "now if you excuse me I'm going to go and get some sleep" she slammed the door on her way out

The group let out a breath "well…that was…." Monk started

"Tense?" Ayako finished. Naru simply shrugged and turned to the monitors, he could see Mai making her way to one of the rooms and entering it, turning his eyes away from the screens

"I want Ayako, Masako and Monk to do another walk through of the house. John I'd like you to prepare for a cleansing, Yasu I'd like you to visit the library and see what else you can undercover." The group nodded and dispersed.

 **Ayako, Monk and Masako P.O.V**

Carrying clipboards each the group made their way around the house taking down the temperatures and trying to sense any spirits. After having toured the rest of the house minus the room Mai went in to they ended up at the kitchen, "17 degrees in here" Monk read off the temperature gage, "Masako do you sense anything?" he asked her

Masako who was busy starring out of the glass door to the back garden turned her head slowly, "hmm, no." She raised her sleeve to cover her mouth "I can't sense any spirit but there is a kind of fog clouding the place"

"Interesting, is it malicious at all?" Ayako asked while examining her nails

"Not that I can sense, it just feels very stagnant now" Masako replied.

Monk had started raiding through the kitchen cupboards having a look for something to eat while Masako and Ayako sat and the round wooden table looking bored. Pulling open a large white door Monk stopped "Hey look at this" he said

"What is it?" Ayako asked pulling herself up off the chair. Moving a few boxes out the way Monk showed off the hidden door behind the cupboard

"I wonder what secretive things live in here" he said while nudging Ayako and raising his eyebrows "maybe there is a deadly monster hiding who comes out at night to eat little children. MUHAHAHA- OW"

Ayako elbowed him in the side hard "shut up, you're an idiot" she said

"We should report this back to Naru" Masako said

"Yeah but I want to see if we can get into it first" Monk said. After he moved several large cardboard boxes out of the way he had a clear view of the door. "I don't think it's locked" He said reaching over and opening the door slowly to reveal pure darkness. "Ayako can you pass me that flashlight"

"Here" she said handing it too him "Can you see anything?" She asked from right behind him

"I think it's a basement room, maybe an old wine cellar? It's hard to see" he replied. Slowly he looked down and found old wooden stairs, he started to walk down them, breaking up cobwebs on the way. Ayako had slid in the cupboard behind him and watched as he made his way down the stairs.

"It's so dark, how can you see a thing down- "Suddenly she felt something push against her back causing her to lose her footing on the top of the steps. "AHHHHH" she screamed and she fell down the stairs.

 **Naru and Lin's P.O.V**

Sitting in the base Naru and Lin had been speaking to Hikori who had only just awoken from his possession. "Can you tell us what happened?" Naru asked

Hikori clutched his hands together across the couch from them "I don't really remember much"

"…" Naru paused while maintaining intimidating eye contact with Hikori "anything could help us" he said

"I don't really remember much, I was in my room and then…it was like… my head is really fuzzy" he paused putting his head in his hands. "It was like I could see bits and pieces of what I was doing but it wasn't me doing it." He looked up at Naru with teary eyes "that sounds crazy doesn't it? I'm going crazy, that's what is happening" he said

Naru sighed "no. It doesn't sound crazy. It sounds impossible but that's why we are here, we deal with things that sound impossible"

Hiroki nodded and wiped his eyes "it's all very fragmented, I remember coming down the stairs to meet you but then I was suddenly so angry. That girl…the one with the sunglasses, I remember her trying to talk to me and then the next thing I know I was lying in my bed"

"okay, is there anything else you can remember?"

"Just what I said, it was like I was watching myself do these things but I couldn't stop myself" Hikori finished

Naru nodded, finished taking down some notes and then stood up "I think that will be all for today, if you remember anything else please come and tell us" he said. Hikori nodded and then made his way out of the door, before Naru could say anything to Lin the door flew open. Masako stood in the door way panting and pointing

"Ayako, the stairs…kitchen…door…I can't open…" she panted

"What?" Naru asked

"Ayako and Monk are in danger" She said, red in the face. Naru and Lin exchanged a look before getting up to run through to the kitchen. Masako followed behind them and pointed to the door in the cupboard. Lin banged against the door

"Monk can you hear me?" he shouted, rattling the door handle he tried shouting again "I think it's jammed from the other side

 **Monk and Ayako's P.O.V**

"Owwww that hurt" Ayako said

"I don't know why you're complaining, I'm the one you landed on!" Monk yelled

"Hey don't yell at me, I was just pushed down the stairs" Ayako said

"Are you sure you didn't just trip while being too busy looking at your nails?" Monk asked

"Shut up" Ayako said while moving to get herself up, she heard shuffling behind her while Monk dusted himself off and looked for the torch.

"Great, now this isn't working" Monk said while banging on the end of the torch. "What happened?" Monk asked

"I told you! I was looking down here and then something pushed me down the stairs" She finished angrily "UGH whatever, let's just get out of here!" Ayako stated, trying to feel her way out she reached the bottom of the stairs, slowly climbing she managed to reach the top and could vaguely made out a small crack of light from under the door.

"Monk can you hear me?" She heard from the other side of the door. Grabbing for the handle she tried to open the door but to no success

"Lin! Lin! I can't open the door" Ayako yelled

"Ayako, are you and Monk alright?" Lin asked through the door

"Yes, we are fine. I can't get the door open" She said, trying to rattle the door again. Still rattling the door handle she felt a hand on her lower back. "Monk now is not the time to be messing around"

"What? What are you talking about?" She heard his voice from below the stairs..." Slowly she turned around and couldn't see anything…

"Okay now that really isn't funny Monk" She said

"What the hell are you talking about?" He yelled

"Don't play stupid!" She said

"I honestly have no idea what you are talking about" he replied

"...LIN, HURRY UP" She shouted through the door and started banging

"HEY! What's happening?" She heard Monk walking up the stairs behind her

"There is something else down here" She said frantically

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! I felt its hand on my back and since you clearly had no idea then it wasn't you and it wasn't me" Ayako finished

"Turn around" Monk said

"What?!" Ayako said

"Turn around so I can look at your back" Monk said, slowly the two of them moved so that Monk could use the light from the bottom of the door to examine Ayako's back, he went to move the back of her top up

"HEY! Watch what you are doing" She yelled at him

"What are you embarrassed?" Monk snorted

"No this is an expensive top and I don't want you ruining it" she snapped back. Her face was turning red in the dark

"hmm you've got a hand shaped bruise on the bottom of your back" Monk said

"damn it, I didn't even feel that" Ayako said while pulling her top back down, turning around she could vaguely see Monk a few inches away from her.

Turning his head away and towards the door he yelled "hey Lin, any luck on getting us out of here?"

"We should be able to take the hinges off the door just hang on a few more minutes" he said through the door

Ayako crossed her hands over her chest and leaned back against the wall, it was pitch black but she could tell Monk was doing the same thing directly cross from her. Huffing she stated "this is why I hate old houses. They are always knackered"

"Well I'm sure once we get a haunted 5 star hotel you'll be the first to know" Monk chuckled

"you can't say it wouldn't be nice to have a case somewhere that isn't derelict or run down" She said while brushing her hands against her legs to get rid of dirt

"Ohhhhh Queen Ayako can't handle a little dust and dirt" Monk sniggered

"Shut up!" She lashed out to kick him in the shins but lost her footing and slipped on the stairs again. Closing her eyes she waiting to end up on the floor but instead Monk had grabbed her around the waist and managed to stop her from falling. She could feel his muscular arm around her and could smell his cologne. "Um…thanks" She said awkwardly while pulling herself up slightly, she went to move back onto the step but Monk's arm tightened around her. She turned her head up to his or at least where she could vaguely make it out to be "What are-" she was broken off by his lips touching hers. Stunned at first and then she leaned into him, her stomach flipped and her heart started racing but before they could get caught up in the moment the door flew open. Ayako jumped back and Monk looked a bit sheepish.

"Sorry, we had to take the hinges off to get it open" Lin stated. Slowly Ayako and Monk made their way back through the doorway/cupboard. Clothes slightly dishevelled and Ayako looked slightly flustered, they said nothing as they emerged

Yasu smirked from behind them, having just come back in from the library "Well, well, well, what is going on here?" he said winking at Monk

Ayako ran a hand through her red hair "Nothing. I got pushed down the stairs and the door got stuck, we had to get Lin to open it" she said while brushing past Yasu to make her way to the base.

Yasu just raised his eyebrows at Monk and said "Yeah well the lipstick on your mouth would suggest otherwise" Monk frantically rubbed his face. "HA! Joking! But now we all know the truth"

Naru who was getting impatient at this silly games interrupted "let's go to the base and discuss what happened." Yasu shrugged but everyone knew that he was nowhere near letting it go.

 **Mai's P.O.V**

Mai was exhausted so flung herself into the first room she had found, it looked like the female room with Ayako's many suitcases. Right now, she didn't really care, she needed rest so that she could function properly. Lying down on the soft bed she didn't even bother changing or pulling the quilt back, she let her eyes shut and tried to pull herself into the dream world.

 _Flashback_

 _Before Mai even opened her eyes she knew exactly where she was, the smell hit her first, rancid blood and sweat hung in the air and stung her nose. She sighed, it had been a while since this memory had come to her. Opening her eyes slowly she was staring at the grey concrete ceiling, her head pounded and everything hurt. Attempting to sit up made Mai remember that she'd been strapped down to the metal table, her legs and arms were secured with leather straps, she desperately pulled against them but to no avail. She was smaller and could see clearly out of her eyes which meant this was a memory from the start. She looked around the room to find it was the same as it always had been, abandoned cabinets lined the room, the dingy walls were covered with blood and there was a medical tray full of instruments across from her. 'Shit, shit, shit' Mai thought 'not this memory, anyone but this one'. It made no sense, Damien could manipulate the spirit world and control what happened when she was in the plane with him but this was a memory, his abilities prevented him from making her remember these unless he was there with her in the physical world. 'Come on Mai' she told herself 'you can get out of this, just think about it.' At that moment she heard a door open and close, closing her eyes she pretended she was still sleeping._

 _"Come on Mai, I know you are awake" the voice rang, opening her eyes she could see his face upside down and a few inches away from hers._

 _"Why am I here?" She asked 'it was too late, this scene was playing out as if from a script, which meant Mai had to go with it'_

 _"I think you know why" he responded_

 _"I really really don't, what did I do to deserve this" she screamed at him_

 _"Now now, you know it's an honour to be picked by me, I'm going to give you all the power you will ever need to combat the spirit and human world Mai. You have to embrace it" Damien smirked while picking up a syringe of questionable liquid_

 _"No, NO!" Mai screamed while struggling against the restraints, Damien lifted the needle and with an insane amount of strength held her shoulder down while jabbing it into her arm. Mai screamed in pain while the liquid burned through her veins. Thrashing frantically against the leather she screamed and screamed until her throat was hoarse. The liquid continued to burn and make her see red, on and off the pain went in waves._

 _"Master look at this" one of Damien's faceless helpers spoke to him, they were holding down her right leg._

 _"What is it?" Damien asked cursorily. The burning had started to die down but suddenly she felt a pain slice across her leg and then a numbing feeling. "Wow, incredible" Damien said "she's starting to have automatic recovery"_

 _"Get away from my leg" Mai screamed, she was panting and could feel the sweat running off of her from where she had fought against the restraints_

 _"Now Mai, calm down! Don't you understand what this means?" Damien said to her while trying to pat her head as if to comfort her_

 _"I don't care! STOP IT!" She yelled again_

 _"Get the chloroform" he instructed one of the faceless helpers._

 _'No' Mai thought, not again, she was not going to get knocked out and walk up feeling nauseous and with new wounds. Screaming she felt herself come free from one of the restraints, ripping away the ones around her feet and hand she sprung off of the table. She grabbed a scalpel from the table while trying to steady herself on shaky legs._

 _Damien sighed "Mai, how many times are we going to have to have this fight? You know it would go much better if you just embraced this gift I'm giving you."_

 _"Gift? GIFT?!" Mai screamed "How exactly is torture and entrapment a gift?!" she swung her knife out at the slave that ran at her, slashing across his abdomen he crumpled and turned to ash._

 _"Alright Mai, you've pushed me to this" Damien said. She knew what was about to happen, she watched as he closed and reopened his eyes, no longer black but bright red. Suddenly her skin started to burn intensely, she screamed and backed up against one of the cabinets. She clawed at her skin, trying to remove whatever it was that was causing it to burn, blood started to pour out and skin caught under her nails. She knew she was about to pass out, her vision grew red and she could make out Damien walking over to her. She took this one last chance and threw herself at him, lashing out with the knife she brought it down but was caught of guard by his strength as he redirected it at her. Frozen she felt the stab of pain shoot through her abdomen, she dropped the knife and felt her knees give in. Damien caught her and brought her down to the floor, blood pooled out of her stomach and through the white dress she wore. "I tried to warn you but you didn't listen" Damien said while brushing her hair out of her face, "don't worry we'll fix you up just fine." Her vision was faded and she was left in a daze as it grew black._

 _End of Flashback_

Mai struggled to open her eyes to the bedroom, she felt as if she was trying to swim through tar. Her muscles were heavy and she vision blurred in and out of focus while she made her way through to the bathroom. Standing under the shower to try and waken herself up didn't seem to help in the slightest. She felt as if a fog had descended over her brain and she couldn't shake it off. This was the exact same thing that happened to her once she had escaped from Damien those two years ago, she wandered around in a daze, not being able to respond, stuck in one place while missing chunks of time. Mai slowly stepped out of the shower and threw on some clothes, a black sports bra and black workout leggings were the first thing she could find. In her current state of mind, she completely forgot that wearing these clothes showed off the hundreds of tiny white scars that littered her body.

The next thing Mai knew she was standing outside of the base, her went hair was dripping down her back but she didn't remember trying to brush it. She could make out some muffled conversations coming from inside the base but it sounded like it was from underwater. She opened the door to the base and saw that everyone was sitting around having a lively discussion. Images kept slamming into her skull making things dozy and blurry.

"Mai….Mai" she vaguely heard her name being called, she felt a hand on her shoulder and tried to refocus on Naru who stood in front of her "Are you alright?" he asked her, her vision clouded in and out of focus

He lowered his eyeline so he was looking directly at her "Mai, can you hear me?" he looked at the group

"I don't know if she can hear you, do you think she's possessed" Yasu asked

"I'm not sure but she's really cold, let's get her some tea" Naru said

Mai registered the last word "yes, I'll get some tea" she said to Naru and made her way back out the door and to the kitchen. Blinking Mai suddenly was standing starring at a kitchen wall while a kettle screamed at her.

 _-blink-_

She had a tray of cups and a pot of tea on it

 _-blink-_

She was standing outside the base door

- _blink-_

She was now in the base handing tea to everyone, completely absent minded she put the pot down and made her way over to window. She could hear the group talking to her but her mind couldn't process it, everything was running in slow motion, with fragments reaching her but nothing else. She felt herself being guided to sit on the couch next to Ayako, she felt a hand on her shoulder but didn't have the energy to try and swat it away, in fact it felt nice to have a comfort. The next thing Mai knew she was lying sideways on the couch with her head on Ayako's lap, her eyes drifted to sleep while Ayako stroked her hair.

 **Group's P.O.V**

The group had been discussing the incident with the door

"All I'm saying is why would the spirit suddenly decide to push you down the stairs? I thought it was into teenage boys" Yasu said, Monk looked at him and raised his eyebrow

"Okay…that maybe wasn't the best way to word that. But the point still stands!" Yasu said

"I don't know Yasu, all I know is that one minute I'm in the cupboard and the next minute I'm being pushed down the stairs" Ayako explained

The door opened while Yasu and Ayako were fighting, the group suddenly went silent. In the doorway stood Mai, she was wearing black sports bra and tight sports leggings that highlighted the tiny scars over her body. Her wet hair was soaking and she just stood in silence.

"Mai" Monk asked from where he was sitting, she shuffled forward slightly but didn't say anything. Naru put the folder down he had in his hands

"Mai can you hear me?" He ask when he walked over to her, there was still no response. Gently he put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a small shake, "Mai can you hear me?" he repeated, he lowered his gaze and bent down so that he was looking directly at her eyes. They were bloodshot as hell but completely blank, a greyish colour had completely enveloped them.

"I don't know if she can hear you, do you think she's possessed" Yasu asked

"I'm not sure" Naru said, she was responding but very slowly as if she couldn't process everything. He did notice that her skin was cold. "She's really cold, let's get her some tea" he said to the group

"Yes, I'll get some tea" Mai said, her voice monotone she turned and left the room swiftly

"um…should one of us go with her?" Yasu asked

"No." Naru said "if she is possessed then that might be what the spirit wants, we'll watch her on the monitor." The group watched through the cameras as she made her way to the kitchen and proceeded to make tea.

"She doesn't look possessed" Lin said

"How can you be sure?" Monk asked

"It's the way she's moving" Lin said pointing to the screen "the slowed down motions as if she's reset her software. It's a similar mechanisms used in victims with PTSD. Their brains can't process what is happening so they continue their basic movements and such but their personality is blocked." He finished

"That makes sense" Monk asked, they watched as Mai came back through to the base with a tray of cups, she handed them out to the group while they stood in shock, once she was finished pouring she put the pot down and went to stand at the window. Her hair looked black against her white skin and you could make out tiny white lines running all over her arms.

"Mai, maybe you should sit down?" Monk suggested, when it was clear that she didn't hear them Monk walked around the table and reached out to grab her arm. She didn't flinch or even notice that he'd taken a hold of her, slowly he walked her over to the couch that Ayako was sitting on. Staring out ahead of her he could see that her eyes were completely blank. Ayako slowly put her hand on her shoulder

"My god" She said

"What?!" Monk asked

"Nothing, I just never realised how skinny she was before. I can feel the tip of her collar bone through her skin" Ayako said. As she was talking Mai turned her head slowly and laid down across the couch. She put her head on Ayako's lap and closed her eyes. Ayako patted Mai's head like a mother taking care of her child.

The group stood in silence for a few seconds "um…what the hell is happening?" Monk asked while gesturing around the room

"Shhhh...you'll wake her up" Ayako said

"Good maybe she can tell us what is going on. Come on, one minute she wants to rip off everyone's head and now she's asleep on your lap like a cat"

"Jealousy doesn't really suite you Monk" Ayako replied smirking

"HA! Me jealous?! No thanks I'm not into old bags" Monk replied

"Go bald you idiot" Ayako responded from her seat. Yasu was in fits of laughter while Lin cleared his throat to try and break Naru out of his fixation with the sleeping girl. Naru whipped his head around and narrowed his eyes at Lin who simply just shrugged and turned back to his laptop.

"Yasu do you want to fill us in on what you found at the library?" Naru asked

"Sure boss man" taking a seat Yasu pushed his glasses up the end of his nose and started to fill in details about the house and how it had been difficult to find anything about it before the 1400's.

 _Meanwhile in Mai's head_

Mai opened her eyes to find herself in the spirit plane. Sighing she pulled herself up off the ground.

"Hey Mai" Gene said across from her with a huge grin on his face. It was weird seeing the major personality differences between Gene and Naru, they must have been a brilliant double act when they were younger, Mai thought.

"UGH. I'm getting kinda bored of constantly falling asleep after making a twat of myself." Mai said to him

Gene laughed "don't worry I don't think the group noticed that…much…"

Mai narrowed her eyes "GREAT! I should have just taken off all my clothes and started singing a stupid song while I was at it."

"Now, there is a sight I'd like to see" Gene smirked. Mai hit him in the chest.

"Oh shut up Gene, have you got something to show me or are you just here to annoy me as usual." Mai asked while folding her arms across her chest

"I do actually!" Gene smiled "follow me, my lady" he said while taking Mai's hand. Following Gene they walked through the house and out to the front garden Gene, turned Mai around so she was facing the house. Slowly the house shifted and changed, trees shot up beside it as it aged and warped. Finally, the house that was standing in its place looked nothing like what it had been, old wood and glass held it in place.

Mai tilted her head "what year is it?"

Gene shrugged "I'd say about 1300, but I can't be certain." Mai just nodded, she watched as people came and went in and out of the house. A family appeared to be living in it but it was difficult to identify them. The scene shifted again and now they stood in a dark and damp room, Mai thought it looked like a basement but couldn't be certain. Looking around she saw the body of a man lying on the floor, he was lying face down with a knife sticking out of his back. Blood stained the floor and his light-coloured kimono was splattered. Looking up she watched as a young woman made her way down the old wooden stairs, dressed in commoner's clothes she turned around and screamed in horror at the sight in front of her. Turning around to run she came face to face with a young man 'brother' she said but before she could do anything else a large vase was brought down over her head.

The scene wavered, and they were back standing in the black spirit plane. Mai was thinking, so the problem went back further than the current house that stood there, it must be an issue with the land the house was built on.

"Thanks Gene, I'm going to wake up and see what else I can find out" Mai said moving to lie down

"Hey Mai" Gene asked

"Yeah?"

"Could you…could you tell Naru that I'm sorry?" Gene said

"Sorry? What are you sorry for Gene?" Mai asked. Before he could answer the room spun and she jumped up from her spot on the couch. Groaning in frustration Mai rubbed her eyes trying to get the sleep out of them. Once again, she was lying on the couch in the base, she had a cover over her and could see Lin typing away at his laptop.

"What time is it?" She asked getting up, she totally forgot she was in her workout clothes and that her hair was a complete mess

"12am" Lin answered. Mai nodded and went through to the kitchen to make herself a drink, trying to figure out what her dream was telling her she waited on the kettle boiling. Once she'd made tea she returned to the base and handed a cup to Lin, he nodded in response

"What happened?" she asked him

"You appeared to be in a sleep walking trance, we tried to wake you but you fell asleep again on the couch" Lin finished while never taking his eyes off his computer screen

"Interesting…" Mai said into her cup

"Were you perhaps dreaming?" Lin asked

"Actually, I was" Mai answered

Lin paused and turned to look at Mai, pushing his dark hair out of his eye "What was it about?"

"The case" Mai replied and then proceeded to fill Lin in on her dream, missing out the parts involving Gene however.

Lin typed up what Mai was saying as she filled him in and nodded from time to time as if confirming with himself what he was typing was right. Once Mai was finished Lin looked up from the laptop screen, "anything else?" he asked her

Mai shook her head

"Nothing from Gene?" Lin replied in a dry voice

Mai's eyes snapped up "how did you… ah of course Naru told you" Lin nodded

"he may be 21 but Oliver's parents still want me to keep an eye on him" he huffed, Mai could tell that being dragged to the other side of the world and no doubt away from Madoka had frustrated him.

"how is Madoka doing?" Mai asked

Lin blinked as if he wasn't expecting the question before regaining his composer "She's very well thanks for asking, she was always very fond of you" Mai felt her heart strings tug a little, she'd always loved Madoka and felt bad for her than Lin was so far away. Sighing Mai stretched her hands up over her head

"I think I'll make some more tea, would you like some Lin?" she asked politely, Lin just nodded in response as she made her way to the kitchen. While Mai was walking through the corridor she had a weird sensation run over her skin as the temperature shifted, she stood for a few seconds but everything appeared to be fine. Once in the kitchen Mai started to boil the kettle, upon opening the cupboard doors she saw the secret passage that the group must have been discussing earlier. She could feel a draft and decided to explore, the wooden stairs creaked as she walked down them. Once at the bottom she could only vaguely make out the room but it reminded her a lot of the basement from her dreams, the darkness was consuming and danced around the room.

Then she heard it. Breathing. Breathing coming from somewhere in the room.

"who's there?" She asked the room. Her words were lost in the silence but then

"hello there sister. I see you've managed to stick your nose in where it doesn't belong again." Spinning around Mai could make out a silhouette at the far side of the room. She watched as Yasu stepped out

"…" Mai said nothing but watched as his dark eyes scanning her

"I told you sister, I warned you not to get involved and now look what has happened" Yasu said while stepping forward again. It was at this point that Mai saw the wooden plank in his hand. He was going to try and knock her out no doubt, that's when she thought she'd try something else

"What did you do to father?" she asked

Yasu's eyes narrowed "you know exactly what I've done to him. The old man had it coming!" He shouted

"Tell me what you did with father?" Mai asked again, she edged backwards further in to the hidden basement, she thought that by keeping Yasu or whoever was currently in Yasu talking then she might be able to get answers or at least Lin might have come looking for her.

"I did what I had to do. That fortune was rightfully mine" Yasu said as his lips curled up in to a snarl

Mai had moved in to a defensive stance and was still edging backwards preparing for an attack, "that's why you killed father? For his money?" she asked him. Her hands brushed the rough brick wall behind her and she had no-where else to go

"Of course, little sister, he had to die for a new age to begin." Yasu had crossed the distance between them and was standing in front of Mai, he suddenly grabbed her by the throat and pinned her against the wall. Mai squirmed under his grip but grabbed on to his hands around her throat and his elbows. She could break out of this easily but the result would not be so pleasant for Yasu. Yasu's eyes were completely blank, like all possession states, his face was a few inches from hers, "I'm sorry sister but you know too much, you have to die now too" he said and he suddenly put all his weight on to her throat. Mai saw red as he slammed the back of her skull in to the brick wall.

"Sorry Yasu" she spat before grabbing his wrists, she slammed his wrists down and brought her fist up to meet his face, Yasu howled and fell back wards as his nose exploded over his face.

"Rin"

"Pyo"

"To"

"Sha"

"Kai"

"Jin"

"Retzu"

"Zai"

"ZEN!" Mai finished, Yasu let out another howl and fell to the ground, before anything else could happen Mai jumped over to him grabbed his arms and pinned him to the ground. Unfortunately, Mai could smell blood from his chest where she'd managed to cut him from the chant. There was more time to think about that later, Yasu tried to free himself from under her. Using her strength, she hauled him up and kept his arms pinned behind his back while perp walking him up the stairs to the base.

"You'll pay for this little sister" he hissed

"Yeah, yeah, because I've never heard that before, just keep walking you prick" Mai hissed back

Before reaching the base doors he whistled and the air around Mai flew at her, she hissed as she let go of Yasu to defend her face from the tiny cuts. "You aint getting away that easy" she yelled while running after him, they made it through the giant glass at the front of the house. Mai caught up to Yasu within seconds without thinking she grabbed the back of his collar and hurled both herself and him backwards.

-CRACK-

The shattering noise ringed in Mai's ears as both her and Yasu came swinging through the inside glass panelled door. Yasu landed on top of Mai but facing away from her, taking the brunt of the damage on her back she had her arms securely around his chest and flipped him over so she had him pinned to the ground. Bruised and bloody he was still breathing but currently unconscious. A loud sigh made her head snap up.

"Well damn Mai, do you have a list on how many of us you can maim?" Monk asked standing at the foot of the staircase. Mai looked straight at him with a grimace on her face, she turned around to see the disaster zone that was the entrance, glass and wood everywhere with a now loose doorframe.

"Um…my bad." She said

"What the hell is going on?" Ayako said appearing from the top of the stair case

Naru followed behind her looking furious, 'so much for trying not to cause any more fights' Mai thought to herself. Before she could start getting a lecture she climbed off of Yasu and pulled him up, his unconscious state was heavy but she managed.

"I have a feeling he may need stitches, Ayako where is the best place to sit him?" Mai asked

"Um..." Ayako said while trying to rub the sleep from her eyes "put him on the couch in the base, I'll go grab my medical bag" turning around Ayako disappeared up the stairs

Mai placed Yasu down on the couch in the base while declining Monks offer to help her, she turned to Naru who was just glaring at her.

"um…so…how loud was the crash?" Mai asked sheepishly, she was used to wrecking things and hurting people and not caring but the family was still in the house and despite her conflicting feelings for her old friends she wasn't intentionally trying to cause them any extra problems.

"Pretty loud, although Masako, John and the Adachi's appear to still be sleeping, we'll break the news about their door tomorrow to them. What exactly happened Mai?" Monk asked while looking over Yasu

"I honestly have no clue" Mai sighed and repeated what had happened

"And rather than let him go outside you decided that throwing him through a door was a better idea?" Naru barked

"You know me Naru I just live for the drama, plus I figured it'd been a while since I'd injured myself" Mai snapped back

"Yes, well if you had used your brain then you would have refrained from flinging both yourself and Yasuhara through the door" Naru said

Mai puffed "hey I was just trying to stop him from getting outside, he was possessed and if he'd have gotten away god only knows what would have happened to him"

"The chances are the spirit would have left his body after the encounter with you" Naru replied

"Yes but that wasn't a chance I was going to take, I've seen too many people get possessed and then end up dead because of it." Mai snapped

Naru narrowed his eyes and paused before responding "that may be the case but next time if you could try to not break the furniture and the staff"

"…alright…" Mai responded "I'll apologise to the family in the morning" Naru just nodded. 'At least that hadn't escalated to a huge argument' Mai thought, she turned to Ayako who was now in patching up the cuts on Yasu, "how bad is it?" Mai asked while she ran her hands over her arms to feel for cuts

"It could be worse, he only has a few cuts and bruises, he's unconscious so probably won't remember anything. I'm more concerned that he has a concussion, we'll need to wait until he wakes up to take him to the hospital to check." Ayako responded while cleaning the cuts.

Mai sighed and headed to the kitchen to fetch the broom, opening the cupboard door she saw the dustpan with the remains from the coffee table that she broke the other day, 'great something else that I've managed to break' she cursed herself. Bending down her vision faded

 _Flashback_

 _"Come on Mai try harder" Damien yelled at her. Mai screamed in frustration but lashed out again and again and again in his direction_

 _"you're too weak, you aren't concentrating enough" he yelled_

 _Mai knew she was weak, she had been lashing out with her PK for hours trying to do something that would get him to leave her alone for a few hours of peace but nothing was working, all she had was broken pieces of various furniture. Mai slumped forward, her chest was heaving and her body felt light from using up energy._

 _Walking over to a broken vase Damien picked up a shard "useless, absolutely useless" he muttered to himself. "What is the point in these exercises if you don't try harder, I need you to be capable of much more than just breaking everything Mai" he finished_

 _End of Flashback_

Mai blinked and her vision returned to normal but she felt short of breath. Before wasting any more time, she picked up the broom and dustpan, emptying the contents in to the bin before heading back through to the hallway. Moonlight shone through the hole in the door and cast the small hallway in pale light, the light caught off the shards of glass and she could see the carnage. Despite working by herself for two years she still forgot that at times she was stronger than she felt, thankfully the main door to the house was in one piece. She started to sweep the shards in to a pile but after a while she found the broom was useless against the large rug so abandoned it and started to pick up the pieces using her hands.

"Do you want some help?" a voice asked from behind her

"No thanks Monk" she responded without turning around. "I made the mess, I'll clean it up" she whispered, Monk hovered for a few seconds before making his way back in to the base

"once you are done you might want to come in and get Ayako to look at some of those cuts" he said before shutting the door. Mai had completely forgotten that she'd gone through the door first, that was one of the bonuses of advanced PK powers, wounds always healed quicker than normal. Finishing sweeping, she returned the broom to the kitchen and ran her hand over her skin and back to feel for cuts on her way to the base. There were very little left other than five or six that had glass shards stuck in them. Opening the base door Monk, Lin, Naru and Ayako were standing chatting while Yasu was still passed out on the couch but bandaged up.

"How is he doing?" Mai asked while walking over to the computer seat, sitting down she twisted around to try and get a good look at the remaining cuts.

"He seems to be alright, but I can't tell if he's still possessed or not" Ayako responded

"I have a feeling the spirit may have left him when I put him through the door" Mai responded while picking at a cut on her upper arm.

"It depends on the strength of the spirit" Monk responded "sometimes when the host vessel is damaged they remain in them until consciousness is returned" he said while scratching his head

"so, basically we need to wait until he wakes up?" Mai said

"pretty much yeah" Monk said. Mai looked over to see Naru and Lin having a discussion at the other side of the room

Ayako interrupted her thoughts "here let me get those shards out of you and get you stitched up" making her way over with the first aid kit

Mai held up her hand "it's alright, don't waste the medical supplies on me, I can get them myself" Mai responded. She reached in to the small pocket in her leggings and pulled out a pocket knife, flicking it up she brought it to the cut on her arm and dug it into the skin. She felt a small tingle and then nothing, routing around she dug until she contacted the shard, "got cha" she said and snapped the knife out with the piece of glass following. The glass _clinked_ against the floor with a few drops of blood, bending down she picked it up to examine it. "Amazing, I have fast healing but only if there isn't any leftover in my skin" she remarked while holding up the bit of glass, Ayako just stood starring while Monk looked both shocked and impressed.

"That is both kinda cool and disturbing" he said while pulling up another computer chair next to her, Monk pulled her arm to examine where the cut was, he tilted her arm from side to side while looking and the now healed over cut. Mai smirked at his amusement

"I'm like a vampire" Mai chuckled while taking her arm back to dig out another shard from her side.

Monk laughed "I have to say it's pretty impressive. So do you always just heal whenever you get injured then?" he asked

"Pretty much" Mai responded "as long as there isn't anything left in the wound my PK tends to just heal over them. And of course, if I'm not using it for anything else of course. No fuss or scars, it is pretty good, especially in this job"

 _Clink_

Another shard fell on the floor

"so, it is definitely PK abilities you have then?" Monk asked his eyes shined with interest, probably since this was the first time Mai had been in a chatty mood since they'd reunited.

"I think so, from what I've read I think that's the best description" she responded

 _Clink_

A few drops of blood lingered on her side as the glass hit the floor.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Ayako chimed in standing behind her

Mai turned slightly in the leather chair "not particularly, there's a small sting but then nothing. It's kind of like getting a paper cut"

"How did you learn how to do this?" Ayako asked, eyebrows raised

 _Clink_

"What digging stuff out of my skin?" Mai responded

"Yeah, I mean usually people don't just pick up their own knife and start routing around" Ayako said

"True but it's not difficult, after the first few times it gets pretty easy, plus like I said there isn't any scarring so not much point in going to the hospital" Mai replied while pulling out the last piece that was trapped

 _Clink_

Ayako shot a look to Monk and then asked a question Mai wasn't ready for "if there isn't any scarring where did you get the rest of the scars on your torso and arms?"

Mai froze, she had expected this but not so soon, Mai cleared her throat while wiping the knife on her leggings before standing up

"oh those ones are just older ones" Mai shrugged "you know how it is on cases, things happen people get hurt" not making any eye contact she pushed the chair under the desk and moved over to Naru and Lin who had stopped their conversation. "Any theories yet?" Mai asked while putting her knife back in her pocket

"Not yet" Naru stated while walking past her to sit down on the now free computer seat, Lin follow suit and they both started to fiddle with the camera monitors. "We need to review the footage and see what else we are dealing with." Naru turned to look at the three of them "go back to bed and we'll all meet here at 8am to discuss the case" and with that he turned back round to dismiss Ayako, Monk and Mai, Mai shrugged and left the room with Monk and Ayako following behind her.

Despite walking ahead of them Mai could feel a slight tension between Monk and Ayako, the silence could be cut with a knife.

"Do you know if there are any other spare rooms?" Mai asked breaking the silence

"Not that I'm aware of" Ayako responded "you can share with me and Masako"

Mai simply nodded and let Ayako lead the way in to the girl's room while Monk left them to head to the boys room. Once inside Mai made her way to the couch and laid down on it, she could hear Masako mumbling in her sleep.

"Are you going to be comfortable there or do you want to share the bed?" Ayako asked

"I'll be fine but thanks" Mai responded, she felt bad enough that she had woken her up at the crack of dawn she wasn't about to kick her out the bed as well. Stretching out she closed her eyes and hoped for a dreamless sleep for a change.

 ** _7:30 am_**

 _BEEP BEEP BEEEP_

A loud piecing noise awoke Mai from her sleep, she realised that it was Masakos irritating alarm clock. Swiping out at it from where she lay on the couch she managed to get it to shut up, grumbling she tried to rub the sleep from her eyes. Sitting up she realised that Ayako and Masako had left the room and must have left the alarm clock out for her so she wouldn't end up missing Naru's meeting. Sighing she pulled herself up and in to the shower. There was a note on the mirror

 _Mai_

 _We went downstairs for food there are spare towels for you_

 _A_

Mai showered and got dressed. She pulled out her sunglasses from her abandoned backpack and figured she'd come back up if she needed her mask later. She wore all black jeans and vest top with her leather jacket over the top. She needed to apologise to the Adachis for wrecking their door and figured the sunglasses looked better than the full-on mask. Putting her hair up and glasses on she moved silently out of the room and to the base. Opening the old wooden door she could see that Yasu had woken up and sat on the end of the couch and the rest of the group must still have been a breakfast.

She moved slowly to stand in front of him but kept her distance.

"how are you feeling?" she asked

Yasu who looked horrid, sitting in rumbled clothes, his normally neat black hair was in messy tangles, he'd taken his glasses off to rub his eyes and had several small bandages covering him. Blinking he looked up and put his glasses back on

"I feel like I've been violated…and not in a good way" Yasu smirked

"I see that your sense of humour hasn't be affected" Mai replied. "Do you remember anything that happened?" she asked while crossing her arms

"Nope, I remember feeling really tired and heading to bed and then waking up here" Yasu looked around confused "why am I in the base?" he asked

Mai sighed she hated having to explain things, it's one of the reasons she loved working alone, she was the only one that needed to know anything. "um well basically you were possessed"

"Possessed?" Yasu repeated

"Yes" Mai responded, a look of concentration crossed Yasus face "so how exactly did I end up here?"

"Basically, you were possessed, hanging around the basement, you attacked me and then tried to run, we fought again, and I may or may not have put you through the glass door" Mai finished rubbing the back of her neck

"…. well that explains the bandages" Yasu said "are you injured?"

"Nah I'm fine. I think Ayako wants to take you to the hospital for a scan later however, just to check for a concussion" Mai finished. Before Mai could say anything else the rest of the group emerged in to the base,

"hey look who's finally up" Monk walked over to Yasu and patted him on the back "good to have you back with us buddy" he said as he sat down next to him

"Move over you idiot I have to check his dressing" Ayako said while shooing Monk from the couch.

"Alright you old bag, I'm moving" Monk said

"Watch it, or the next one needing stitches will be you" Ayako snapped, Yasu laughed as they both bickered

"Have you spoken to Yasuhara about last night's incident?" Naru asked from behind her

Mai just nodded and left to find the Adachi's, making her way through the hallway her footsteps were silenced with the large purple rug that ran through it, for being an old house the hallway looked fairly modern, white walls and laminate flooring made it easy to see along it. Photos frames of the family coated the walls, all capturing happy memories for them no doubt. Finally, Mai made it to the kitchen door, opening the door she saw Miss Adachi standing washing dishes at the sink and the three children sitting at the kitchen table.

"Do you need a hand at all?" Mai asked from behind her

"Ah! You gave me a fright" Miss Adachi said, Mai watched her blonde curls dance around her slim face, chuckling she said "no I'm alright, there is some food left over if you'd like some" she asked

"Thanks but I'm alright" Mai responded, she moved to lean against the counter "did anyone tell you what happened last night?"

Miss Adachi turned her head to look at Mai "I was told there was an incident involving possession but I didn't get all the details, I would like to know what happened to my door however" she said

"Of course, basically – "Mai filled her in on what happened, she continued to have a concerned look on her face as Mai explained. "I'm more than happy to pay for the damage that was caused" she added at the end

"Ha don't worry about that dear, if you and your little group manage to solve whatever is going on in this house then that will be more than enough" her smile was genuine, Mai knew that she was someone that only cared about her family.

"No problem. We are hoping to have some more leads soon" Mai finished and left the family to their morning routine.

Back at the base there was a major discussion going on, Mai slipped in and stood at the far wall listening to what was being said

"Look you have to go to the hospital" Ayako said

"and I told you I'm fine, we need to get some head way on this case and I'm not going to be able to help from a hospital bed" Yasu wined

"I don't care, I'm the doctor here and we are going" Ayako finished.

"Boss man tell her I don't have to go" Yasu pleaded with Naru

"Our insurance won't cover us if you collapse from a brain bleed" Naru responded while examining the clipboard in front of him

"Go get changed and I'll drive you there" Ayako finished

Sighing Yasu knew he had been defeat so left to go get changed. '3 years later and he's still bossing everyone around' Mai thought to herself while looking at some of the images sitting in the middle of the room, they had moved over one of the computer boxes to produce a makeshift coffee table to replace the one she'd broken. The print outs were from the camera and showed Yasu making his way through the hallway and down the stairs, the rest proceeded to show the events of the evening in single frames. Not interested in seeing them or catching the glimpse of herself in the images she turned to John and Masako who were sharing thoughts…'Strange, when did they become such good friends' she thought

"I'm assuming you guys were caught up with what happened last night?" she asked, John and Masako nodded in response. Turning her gaze over to Lin and Naru who were now looking at the camera screens. "Have you guys found anything in the footage that might help?" she asked, feeling a bit out of place with everyone doing different things but her

"We've picked up some audio and we also have this" Naru pointed to one of the images, it showed Yasu walking through the hallway and a black shadow behind him. Mai squinted at the image but could see the black shadow was obviously trying to take the shape of a person. Handing the image back to Monk see was handed headphones from Naru, putting them on she listened.

 _CRECHHHHHH the static buzzed in her ears CREEECHHHHHHHH_

 _"….stop…"_

 _CRECHHHHHHH_ she put her hands on the headphones to try and focus on what was being said

 _"…stop…h….."_

 _'stop? Stop what?' she thought to herself_

 _"…stop…..him….."_

 _"…stop…him"_

 _"…stop him, stop him stop him stop him stop him stop him"_ The voice shouted

 _CRECHHHHHHHHHHHH the static returned_

Mai pulled the headphones off and handed them back to Naru,

"So, the him is referring to the spirit that possessed both Yasu and Hiroki right?" she asked

"We think so but that would mean we are then dealing with two spirits" John responded from the couch

"Do you think the spirit is a normal vengeful spirit?" Monk asked Masako

"Hmm, I can't be certain as the air around here is very thick but I think it's more powerful than a standard spirit" Masako answered faintly. Something about this was off to Mai, she knew the basics for normal spirits but this one was obviously more powerful, being able to possess two different people within a few days, no silence when the house was disturbed…it didn't add up. That's when something went off in her head, in her dream Gene had said the house they were in was built before the 1300's but this one was obviously younger than that. She then thought about the history she'd read up on the area, in the Heian period this land was owned by several different upperclass men, while there were no blueprints or names it was known that this remote land was for the wealthier members. Suddenly she was reminded of a case a while ago

"I think I have it" she said before sprinting from the room, she swung in to the girl's bedroom and tipped her bag out. A small leather-bound book fell out and she grabbed for it before spinning back down to the base. These were the moments she lived for, tackling a tough case and the adrenaline rush from trying to figure out a puzzle. The group was still standing waiting on her, she flicked through the pages until she found the one she was looking for, she placed the book on the makeshift table and pointed to the page that read Goryo.

"Goryo?" Monk asked

"Yeah, I think that's what we are dealing with" Mai responded "I've only ever dealt with one before and they are a nightmare to get rid of"

"What makes you think what we are dealing with is this?" Naru asked his dark eyes narrowing

Mai swallowed "there are a few things, first we know the spirit has a large amount of power given the timing for possession. Second the location would suggest that anyone who lived here previously would have been of a higher socioeconomic status. This is very significant trait for this type of spirit, they are classed as being very vengeful and from the upper-class" Mai finished reading from her book.

The group stood in silence for a few minutes, "you said you'd seen one before, how did you deal with it?" Mai tried to remember the case, she remembered it took a while to figure out and in the end, she had to reduce the entire building to flames and then leave the ground to be purified.

"The last one was…problematic and the methods I used aren't particularly suitable for this one" Mai finished, she flipped through her book trying to find if there would be anything more useful.

"Do you think this links in to the dream you had?" Lin spoke from the corner looking up from his laptop

"Perhaps" Mai replied "I think we need more information"

Everyone looked at Naru who was deep in thought, "Miss Hara and John please tour round the house and see if you notice anything strange. Miss Matsuzaki will take Yasuhara to the hospital. Monk, myself and Lin will have a look in the basement to see if there is anything and Mai.."

Mai jumped in before he could order her around "I'm going to the local library to do some research"

Naru blinked and then just nodded. Everyone disappeared to do their different tasks.

 ** _4 Hours Later_**

Monk, Lin and Naru's P.O.V

They had spent 4 hours measuring, linking up camera's and lights to the basement and found nothing. John and Masako had joined them for an hour but Masako had felt ill so they left again.

Monk slumped down against the wall at the bottom of the stairs "ugh, we have the dimensions and have looked around this whole basement and there is nothing!"

"It doesn't make much sense, if this is a spirit then there has to be something tying them to this place" Monk huffed out

Both John, Lin and Naru were too busy looking over the blue prints that they had made up

"helloo, can anyone hear me?" Monk stated from across the room, still no response, "Will I use my invisibility for good or for evil?" He asked out loud

"Always for evil" Mai responded as she made her way down the stairs with a few books in her hands.

"oh great, are you here to hang out with club goth over there?" Monk responded from his space on the floor. Mai snorted at the response while Naru simply glared at Monk

He turned his head back to Lin, "so you think that this room is key?" he asked

Lin simply nodded

"Well this room appears to be the coldest, despite being in the middle of summer basements tend to get very warm in this temperature" John stated

"I thought that basements are usually the coldest room in the house?" Lin responded

"Normally you would think so but because of the heat outside the surrounding ground heats up and causes the room to heat up, because the door was closed for so long the heat couldn't travel up to the rest of the house like it usually does. Despite that this room has been getting the lowest readings." John finished

Naru nodded and scanned the blueprints, the room was standard, square, one exit and entrance. They had fixed up a camera and lights to monitor it but there didn't appear to be anything obvious. Naru tried to think of what Mai had said about the Goryo theory, he didn't like this case, it was starting to frustrate him.

"they do look a bit like a vampire boy band don't they?" Naru heard Mai whisper to Monk

"I suppose yeah, John has the priest look, Naru is all in black and Lin defo has the pouting man look about him" Monk whispered back, Mai snorted in response

"You know that whispering is a bit pointless in a room like this Monk?" Naru retorted, he looked at Mai who was trying to hide her laughing. He still couldn't get used to the scar on her face, it seemed out of place but at the same time it fitted in with her new profile. "Well did you find anything or did you just come here to bother us?" he snapped

Mai's P.O.V.

Mai had spent 4 hours sitting in front of a computer screen and scanning through local books for all information on the house and area surrounding it. By the end she had come up with a few different bits and pieces but no major breakthroughs. Walking back through the trees back to the house she felt as if someone was watching her, stopping she turned around and saw nothing. Normally Mai wouldn't be fussed if someone or something was following her but given her recent dreams she was starting to feel suffocated, like a trapped animal who's every move was being watched. Shaking her head she kept going and came up to the clearing that surrounded the house, she scanned the area once more before going in to the house. Her default mindset was paranoia and fear thanks to Damien and now she was on edge more than she was on the previous case.

Passing by the empty space where the door previously was she could see there was no one in the base so made her way through to the kitchen. As she headed through the door and down the stairs she could hear Monk speaking while the 3 men ignored him

"Always for evil" Mai responded to Monk's contemplations

"oh great, are you here to hang out with club goth over there?" Monk responded, Mai chuckled at his remark and stood next to him, she put the books down and leaned against the wall

"Any luck?" Monk asked

"A few things, I don't know if they will be of much use but at this moment it's all we've got" Mai responded as she watched Naru, Lin and John discussing things. She let her eyes wander to Naru once again and she examined his posture.

"Old habits die hard huh?" Monk said

"What?" Mai asked

Monk sniggered "you act like you've changed over these past 3 years but I don't think you've changed that much. Still eyeing him up like a school girl"

Mai snorted, "of course not, I was just thinking they look a bit like a vampire boy band" Monk burst out laughing "I mean can't you just picture Lin with some guy liner and Naru wearing a net vest" Monk was holding his side as they laughed.

Naru's head snapped up "Well did you find anything, or did you just come here to bother us?" Mai simply rolled her eyes and picked up the books, she opened it up to a local history page and handed it to him.

"The only thing I could find is that this house has been demolished and rebuilt a number of times. The land used to be bare but there were a number of houses built in this area around the 1300's." Mai stated while waiting for Naru to finish scanning the pages. He looked up and made direct eye contact with her, "like I said it isn't much to go on but it at least gives us a time frame"

"Oh great a whole 800 years. Really specific" Monk remarked from behind them.

"Well it's not great but it does back up the idea of it being a Goryo. Although they were more common from the Heian period and this is slightly later" Mai added

"Well given how far out in the countryside we are it's a good chance that period changes took longer to take affect out here than what they would have in the cities" Lin said bringing his torch around to examine the book.

"Plus supernatural entities don't exactly play by normal rules" Mai chimed in.

 ** _8pm_**

The group sat together in the base again. They had spent the day mapping out the basement and reading through the books Mai had located from the library. Mai huffed and stretched back from her seat on the floor, she pulled her glass off of her face and ran her hand across it. Her scar had been stinging since she left the basement and she wasn't sure why. She flung her glasses across the table and lay down on the floor. She crossed her arms over her face and closed her eyes for a moment. Something began to tug at the corner of her consciousness. _"stop him..."_

 _The voice whispered too Mai like it had on the audio, "you have to help me"_

 _"How do I help you?"_

 _"Stop him" the voice repeated again_

 _Mai couldn't make anything out but darkness behind her arms_

 _"How do I stop him?" Mai asked out again_

 _"The basement…" The voice whispered "it's in the basement"_

Mai lowered her arms and let the base come back to her, she sat up and Masako made direct eye contact with her.

"Did you hear that too?" She asked Mai

"Yes." Mai responded. Standing up her eyes came across a blue print of the basement. That's when it hit Mai 'the only way we are going to solve this is by digging up whatever is under there' she thought.

Grabbing her glasses and the blue print she shot out of the base. Suddenly she was in the basement, it was pitch black but her eyes adjusted in the dark. Sitting the map at the bottom of the stairs she made her way to the middle of the room. She knew that there were multiple cameras on her but she didn't care. Standing she closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing and heart rate. She felt her powers move underneath her skin. She reached out to the spirit that had spoken to her

"Show me where it is" Mai asked

Silence answered her

Mai stirred slightly adjusting her stance with her eyes still closed, "Show me where it is" she asked again. There was a pause and then a loud scratching noise. Mai opened her eyes and found that a few feet in front of her a large X had been scratched in to the floor. Jumping around she ran back up the stairs. Naru had been standing at the top of the stairs.

"What are you doing?" He asked as she pushed past him on the stairs

"Helping move this case forward obviously" She answered back. Opening the back door of the house that's when she saw exactly what she was looking for. A small wooden shed. Making her way to it Naru followed behind her.

"Please tell me you aren't planning on breaking any more of the Adachis property? The insurance wont cover that" Naru asked while keeping a distance

Mai was too busy on finding the item she was looking for, 'ah ha!' she thought. Pulling a large sledgehammer from the tool shed, she slammed the door lifted the hammer on to her shoulder and smiled at Naru.

Naru squinted his eyes at her but before he could ask anything she walked straight past him and made her way back down to the basement. "What exactly are you planning on doing with that?" Naru snapped.

"Isn't it obvious?" Mai asked, she stop in front of the giant X on the ground "I'm going to speed up this case" She said raising the hammer above her head she brought it down on the ground.

 ** _CRACK_**

The house let out a groan and the ground shock slightly where Mai was standing. "NOW, we are getting somewhere"

She brought the hammer down again

 ** _CRACK_**

A sudden breeze whipped through the basement. "What is it? Don't want me digging up something under here, do you?" She shouted at the room. Before she could bring the hammer down again Naru's hands shot out to grab it mid swing, "what are you doing?" she asked through gritted teeth

"Currently I'm stopping one of my crazy employees from ripping up a basement floor" Naru snapped. "Lin, Monk we could do with your help down here" he said in to the microphone

"Just coming" Monk responded

"Hey, let go of my arm" Mai shouted as Naru tried to wrestle the hammer out of her grip

"Look, I don't know what you used to get up too, but we have certain systems that we work through before we start smashing up stuff, or have you forgotten?" Naru hissed through gritted teeth. He was standing so close to Mai she could see the anger in his eyes.

"Look I'm just trying to get something done, one of the spirits thinks that this will help." Mai said

"That may be the case but you can't just do things by yourself, we are a team and things like this are a team decision." Naru shot back.

Lin and Monk had made their way to the bottom of the stairs, Mai was too busy thinking of something else to say that she didn't have enough time to react when Naru yanked the hammer from her hands. Passing it to Monk "Make sure this is locked back up in the shed will you, we don't want someone irresponsible getting a hold of it" he said shooting a look back at Mai.

Mai crossed her hands over her chest and moved so she was standing directly on top of the X now. Lin and Monk went to leave and Naru started to follow them but Mai grabbed his arm and yanked him back so he was standing facing her.

"Oh no, we aren't done with this fight" She said, despite being almost a foot shorter than he was Mai wasn't about to let him intimidate her like he used too.

Naru puffed out his chest and she could see that he was getting irritated. He turned and nodded to Lin and Monk to keep going.

"What is your problem Naru?" Mai asked

Naru smirked "well currently it's a 5-foot brunette that refuses to work as a team"

Mai gritted her teeth, "I know perfectly well how to work in a team"

Naru snorted "really? Because if you'd had a dream about something like this before then you would have shared it with us first before running off to make stupid decisions"

Mai was starting to get pissed, she could feel the air around them and was starting to feel suffocated. "We haven't worked as a proper team in a long time" she said "and what about you? Do you always consult us before you make stupid decisions?"

"…I'm the boss I don't need my employee's approval before I do anything" Naru retorted

Mai stood in shock for a few seconds. "Only you Naru. Only you could go through something like you did and not change at all" she whispered. She watched the hurt flash across his face before he composed himself.

"You have no idea-" right before he could finish they heard a door slam and the light leading from the stairs was blocked out.

"What the-" Mai went to ask before a searing pain shot through her eye, she screamed and buckled over. Her skin felt like it was on fire.

"Mai, what's wrong?" Naru was asking but she couldn't hear him through the loud cracking noises. Suddenly her footing felt uneven and then she felt like there was nothing underneath her at all.

 **Group's P.O.V**

Monk took hold of the hammer and started up the stairs,

"Oh no, we aren't done with this fight" he heard Mai say to Naru. Both Monk and Lin turned around but just received a nod from Naru.

"Think that'll end well?" Monk asked Lin as they made their way back to the base.

"Honestly?" Lin turned "No, but at this rate another big fight might help to ease the tension"

Making their way into the base the rest of the group sat chatting

"Why exactly do you have that?" Ayako asked from the sofa

"What? Not used to seeing manly tools?" Monk smirked

"Oh, very funny" Ayako just rolled her eyes

"I was instructed to keep it away from Mai" Monk said while propping the tool up against the wall in the other side of the room.

"Where are Mai and Naru?" Yasu asked from his seat in the corner

Monk and Lin exchanged a look, "currently, they are probably fighting with each other"

"I wanna hear this" Yasu jumped out of his chair and put on the audio for the basement. Ayako and Monk stood behind him listening

 _"I know perfectly well how to work in a team"_

 _Naru snorted through the audio "really? Because if you'd had a dream about something like this before then you would have shared it with us first before running off to make stupid decisions"_

 _Mai snapped "We haven't worked as a proper team in a long time" she said "and what about you? Do you always consult us before you make stupid decisions?"_

 _"…I'm the boss I don't need my employees approval before I do anything" Naru retorted_

"OH damn Naru" Yasu said "that was not a smart thing to say"

There was a long pause before Mai spoke again _"Only you Naru. Only you could go through something like you did and not change at all"_

Ayako and Monk inhaled a sharp breathe "This isn't going to end well" Monk said

"You never know, maybe they'll just end up having angry sex, it would certainly help clear up some of the tension between them" Ayako smirked

"SHHHH I can't hear what they are saying" Yasu said

 _"You have no idea-"_

"I can't hear anything! Lin what is going on with the audio!" Yasu shouted. Before Lin could answer there was a scream and then the audio cut off.

"Shit" Lin yelled while jumping up, the group rushed through to the kitchen. Before they could reach the basement door the whole house started to shake violently

"What the hell is that?!" Ayako shouted

"I think it's an earthquake" John should from behind her. As quickly as the tremors started they stopped. The group stood paused for a few seconds before Monk jumped up

"I don't like this at all" he said before pulling Lin up and throwing open the basement door.

"Oh no" He said

"What? What is it?" Ayako asked from behind him. Monk moved to show that the way down to the basement looked completely black. "What I don't understand?" Ayako said while stepping forward

"Be careful" Monk said while putting his arm out to stop her. That's when she realised that the stairway leading down to the basement was completely gone, instead rubble and a 15-foot drop remained in its place.

"Shit" Ayako said. "Mai, Naru" She shouted but no response.

 **Mai's P.O.V**

Mai cracked open her eyes to darkness and started a coughing fit. The dust had gone directly up her nose and burned. After she stopped coughing she tried to look around but couldn't see anything but darkness. She tried using her PK but her face felt damp, blood no doubt. Groaning she stretched out her arms to check and see if everything was still in one piece. There was a banging noise and some movement around her, it took her a few moments to remember that Naru had been with her in the basement before the crash.

"GREAT. Just fantastic" she shouted at the room. She could feel that her legs were trapped underneath something, sitting up she slammed her head directly into the now ceiling. She tried to push the wooden beam off of her but had no luck. Stretching her arms out around her she could feel rubble and loose bits of wood.

A coughing echoed the room "Naru? Naru is that you?" she shouted

"yes -cough- who else -cough, cough- did you expect it to be?" he said sarcastically

"Well I'm terribly sorry! If you haven't noticed, we are stuck under god knows how much rubble and wood so excuse me if I wasn't sure it was you" she yelled

"well who else is stupid enough to follow you into a situation like this?!" he shouted back

"Nobody asked you to follow me in here, did they?"

"Given your past experiences I assumed you'd need a babysitter in case you got yourself killed" he shouted from somewhere in the darkness

"ohh you can never wait to just throw my mistakes in my face can you!" she shouted back.

Inhaling a large cloud of dust Mai started to cough frantically, her abdomen stung and her throat felt like she'd swallowed some razor blades. She heard more movement and a shuffling noise.

She jumped when she felt hands on her shoulders.

"Are you alright?" Naru asked from behind her

"Jesus, give a person some warning before you do that" she responded

"If you'd prefer I could leave you here?" Naru asked, Mai didn't need to see to be able to tell that he had a smirk on his face.

"Whatever, look my legs are stuck under something and I don't have enough strength to push it off" She responded

"All out of PK are you?" Naru asked from behind her

"Surprisingly yes! You of all people should know that it isn't an endless supply" Mai snorted back

A few moments of silence passed between them before Naru spoke again. "Alright I'm going to try and pull you out." She felt him put his hands up her arms and then him pulling from behind.

Pain shot through her "OW OW OW! That's my leg, it's connected!" Mai yelled.

"Don't yell at me I'm trying to help you!" Naru snapped "there isn't enough room for me to stand up and pull you out. I also can't see a thing down here"

"Why don't you use your PK then?" Mai asked

"As usual you are wrong. You should know that PK is the ability to move objects at the distance. How it helps you see in the dark I don't know" Naru snorted

"Whatever! Just help me get this damn thing off my leg" Mai readjusted herself in the darkness, "okay try putting your foot against the beam and then pulling" she said. Naru grabbed onto her again in a reverse bear hug from behind, he put his feet against the beam to give him extra power. As he started to push against the beam Mai could feel all his abdominal muscles tense against her back which made her stomach flip. Letting out a grunt Mai felt herself come loose and fall backwards onto Naru. An explosion of dust came with them as they fell backwards onto the ground. Mai could hear some loose rubble bounce around as she lay on top of Naru, attempting to turn over Mai knocked her head on something.

"If you wouldn't mind getting off me, you'll ruin my clothes" Naru said

"I'm trying but in case you haven't noticed it's pretty dark down here and we are surrounded by pieces of a building" Mai hissed

"I'd assume you'd have channelled your powers into night vision to help you see" Naru remarked from underneath her.

"I can't just now, I'm all drained out from the rest of the case" Mai responded, she was essentially straddling him with her legs at either side of his hips. Trying not to focus on her churning stomach or suddenly very warm thighs she stretched up to see if she could feel what was above them. Her hand just hit concrete, moving to the left side she felt around and found another smooth wooden beam

"What the hell are you doing?" Naru hissed at her

"I'm trying to find a way out or at least some more space for us" Mai hissed back.

She managed to move herself, not so gracefully, off of Naru but the spacing was tight so she could still feel his body heat in the enclosed space.

"Now what" Naru asked, Mai could feel his breath on her skin which meant that despite not touching each other they were still pretty enclosed.

"I don't know, you're the genius you figure it out." Mai snapped, she was starting to feel claustrophobic in the tiny space. The air was starting to turn warm and she stretched her hands above her head trying to push against the beam to see if there was any more space. No luck, it felt almost as if they were in a wooden coffin with the way they'd be trapped. "Maybe we could shuffle back out the way we fell in" Mai said

"I'm not sure if that is possible" Naru replied, Mai could feel the air move as he spoke

"Huh? Why not?" Mai asked

"Listen" Naru said, Mai felt his leg move away from her leg and she listened as it connected with a wall, the thumbing echoed throughout the tiny space.

"What…No… you can't be serious!" Mai said, shimming down slightly she kicked her own leg out and it connected to something solid. "But we fell in from somewhere, there has to be a way out" Mai said starting to panic.

"It would appear as if whatever caused the basement to collapse also has a sense of humour" Naru said sarcastically

"So what? We just lie here patiently until someone digs us out?" Mai snapped, her top had ridden up over her abdomen and she did have the space to even attempt to try and straighten it back out.

"Lin will have scheduled a way to get us out by now" Naru replied with a sigh while moving back as far as he could, Mai said nothing but huffed out some air. Sitting in silence for a while Mai was still painfully aware of how close Naru was. She didn't like this, she felt trapped and not being able to see that far in front of her didn't help.

-RING, RING-

"What is that?" Mai asked

-RING, RING-

"It's my mobile phone" Naru replied "I think it's coming from behind you"

"I'm impressed you can get signal down here" Mai replied "I can't reach it from this angle"

"Hold still" Naru responded while moving even closer to her. She felt his hand on her side and then stretch over her

-RING, RING-

Bringing his hand back over Mai noticed how close he was to her, his breath was in her face and she could see some light reflecting in his eyes from the phone screen. Instinctively she pushed back against the rubble behind her, moving back she felt a rush of cold air flow between herself and Naru.

"Hello" he answered "Ah Lin, yes we are alright…uh huh…yes…I see" Mai felt him nodding along with the phone "Yes I'm not sure where we are but we are stuck somewhere, no it's almost as if we've been boxed in. Yes, she is here with me…alright…will do" he finished and ended the call, he sighed.

"What did Lin say?" Mai asked

"He said that we are the only two who got caught up in this but it will take some time to move everything out of the way to get to us." Mai sighed and tried to stretch her arms out as they were starting to ache. "He said it could take about 12 hours to clear everything"

"Well great, stuck here for 12 hours, how fantastic! Maybe if we are lucky we'll run out of air and suffocate before then" Mai snapped

"Yeah if you keep complaining then we probably will" Naru said back

"Fine" Mai said as they lapsed into silence. Mai knew that while she'd overcome a lot of terrifying stuff and as much as she liked to put on a brave face this kinda of situation caused her anxiety to hit the roof, almost literally. Closing her eyes she lay flat on her back and pushed her left hand against the rubble and her right in front of her to touch the beam that was keeping them confined. She started to focus on her breathing and felt her pulse start to calm down. She learnt that by touching something physically she could prevent herself from having panic attacks at the worst times.

"Are you alright?" She heard Naru ask across from her

Still with her eyes closed she barked back "oh please don't try and flatter me by acting like you care"

"I'd like to remind you that we are in this mess because of you" Naru said icely

Mai's head was starting to get foggy "Fine. Whatever. It's all my fault. Everything is. I don't have the strength to have arguments with you right now". Mai said through gritted teeth, she was trying to control her breathing, but her chest was heaving, and she felt like she was suffocating.

"I didn't realise you were claustrophobic" Naru stated

"I'm not claustrophobic, I just don't like being in confined spaces with people that constantly piss me off" Mai snapped back. She refused to listen to anything else he had to say, she didn't need to get riled up and in this kind of situation getting angry wouldn't help.

A silence followed, and Mai just pretended that she was alone to try and control her panicking. However, nothing seemed to be working, she was jittery and her breathing was shallow and rapid.

"DAMN IT" she shouted and slammed her hands against the walls.

"Shouting won't exactly help" Naru responded

"Well I'm sorry that I'm the only one freaking out in the situation, I wish I could be as calm as you are" Mai said

"Here try this" Naru said, Mai had no idea what he was talking about until she felt his hand on her shoulder

"What are you doing?" Mai snapped

"Just trust me would you" Naru said, his fingertips traced her shoulder and moved down her arm until he found her hand. Mai could feel her skin prickling but she pretended that it was just the situation rather than anything else. He guided her hand until she felt it connect with skin. "Do you feel that?" She could feel a pulse between her finger tips

"Yes." She replied slightly shaken

"Okay I want you to match your breathing to mine" Naru ordered

"um okay" Mai responded she felt Naru's chest rise and fall and tried to match this pattern. Eyes closed she felt her heart rate slow down and she felt much calmer. The skin to skin contact seemed to work well so she kept her hand where it was, thankfully it was dark and no one could see her blushing.

"Better?" Naru asked, Mai could almost hear the smirk in his voice

"Yes. How did you know that would work?" Mai asked

"It's a fairly basic technique, Gene used to get panic attacks when we were younger. Skin to skin contact for breathing or pulse rate always helped." Naru said. Mai could feel his breath on her face, she was lying on her side now and figured that he must have moved too.

Mai and Naru sat in the silence for a few moments, Mai felt a familiar tug at the edge of her consciousness.

"Ah crap" She said

"What?" Naru asked and she could feel the warm air move around her face.

"Your idiot brother wants to talk to me." She paused and felt her head spin. "And I'm about to lose consciousness, you're on your own for a bit" just as she finished her sentence she felt herself close her eyes and her body went limp.

 **Groups P.O.V.**

The group had managed to get an old work man's ladder to get access to the basement but it didn't look good. Lin had decided that the Adachis were safer in a hotel than at their house. Having had sent them off with protection charms the group was now trying to figure out the best way to deal with the problem at hand.

"So how exactly are we meant to move all this rubble out of the way?" Monk asked from the Kitchen.

"It would be those two that manage to cause this" Ayako snorted

"I'm impressed that the house is still standing" Yasu chimed in, "I mean you would think that the basement floor collapsing would have brought the whole thing down"

"Judging from the state of the place it looks more like there was a room underneath the basement, that's probably why the rest of the place is still structurally sound" Monk answered. "So, what's our next move?" He asked

"At the moment we should be able to manoeuvre most of the rubble out of the way to get to Shibuya and Taniyama out" Lin finished while fiddling around on his laptop.

"Uh oh, using formal names, Lin is pissed" Monk whispered to Ayako

"I know. This is scary, he's colder than normal" Yasu whispered back and shivered.

Lin snapped his head up, "Yes I am mad. Perhaps if the two of them would stop acting like teenagers then things like this wouldn't happen." He finished slamming his laptop closed "Houshou, Osamu and John could you come with me and help me move some of the rubble."

 **Mai's P.O.V - Dreamworld**

Mai opened her eyes and was lying on her side like she had been before she fell unconscious. Groaning she sat up. "Gene you here?"

A chuckle erupted from behind her "I. Can't. Believe." Gene choked between laughs "That. You. Collapsed. A. Basement" He broke into a pool of laughter at the ending and was holding his sides.

Mai felt her eyebrow twitch "HEY! I did not cause that basement to collapse!"

"Oh yeah because it just happened to fall down on its own" Gene chuckled "I love watching you guys, it's like an endless show of 'whats gonna go wrong next'"

"GENE!" Mai wined "Did you pull me here for a reason or was it just to mock me?!"

"Can't it be both?" Genes eyes sparkled as he said that. Mai huffed in response.

"Are you here to show me anything?" Mai asked again

"Not exactly. It's not me that has been showing you anything" Gene answered

"What? I thought you were the only one who could pull me into this plane" Mai asked

"Not necessarily" Gene paused to rub his chin, Mai couldn't help but notice how much he looked like a younger version of Naru when he did that. "As you know spirits tend to reach out to you because you are more in tune with them because of your PK. While they show you things in your dreams or send you visions they usually can't invade your spirit plane or deliberately pull you in here. However, if your guard is down or you are particularly weak and faced with a particularly strong spirit who has a strong urge to show you something as quickly as possible, then it's likely they will be able to manipulate your spirit plane." Gene finished.

Mai quickly remembered the dream she had about Damien. It hit her that he must have manipulated her spirit plane to get inside her head. That thought sent a wave of panic over her skin. Shaking her head she tried to focus back in on Gene. "So, you don't have something to show me?"

"No but I think someone else does" Gene finished. The background faded back to the basement that Mai had seen in previous dreams. This time rather than seeing from the young girls view point her and Gene watched as the girls brother dragged her lifeless body over to the far side of the basement. Mai could see that the girls chest was still rising and falling. Slowly opening her eyes she whispered "how could you?"

The brother stopped what he was doing and looked down at her, "I had no other choice" before he slammed the old shovel into her face knocking her out. The scene unfolded, and Mai and Gene watched as he buried both the father and sister in a makeshift grave in the basement. He'd shoved the bodies in to a hand crafted wooden chest. The scene shifted again, and they watched as the old house was being demolished, where the original basement stood there were now new foundations and then all of a sudden, a new house was in front of them. The background shifted back to black.

"Okay, so he killed his father and his sister. I'm guessing for wealth? But it doesn't make sense, he got what he wanted why would his spirit still be around, the sister I get but the brother? There is something we are still missing" Mai finished, Gene just nodded in response. Mai sighed and turned to Gene "time to go again?" she asked.

Gene nodded and started to fade out "tell my brother he's an idiot"

Mai laughed and felt herself being pulled back to reality.

 **Mai's P.O.V.**

Mai opened her eyes to be met with the same darkness that she had left. Her right arm had gone numb from the angle she had been lying on it, and she could hear Naru's breathing.

"Hey Naru, you still there?" Mai asked, silence responded

"Naru…Can you hear me?" Mai asked a little louder this time, again she got no response. Reaching out her left arm she felt fabric, she guided her hand along until she came in to contact with his skin. She could feel the shape of his jaw under her fingers and realised that he must be unconscious. She tried tapping his face, and then she slapped him. No response. 'Shit' she pulled herself closer to him and focused on his breathing, it was short and shallow, which meant that he had passed out from a lack of oxygen. 'If they don't find us soon we are screwed' Mai thought to herself. Before she pulled her hands away she ran her fingers through his hair, despite the state they were both in it was still soft and silky. She giggled at herself, 'if 16 year old you could see you now' she laughed. She pulled back and tried to think of a plan. Her joints didn't feel as sore and she couldn't feel any blood on her face, at least not new blood. 'Hmm perhaps I have some energy left'. She closed her eyes and reached out in to the darkness with her mind. Her hearing focused and she could hear the sound of footsteps above her. 'The group! Of course' She thought, she started to pound her forearms on the rubble above her, the noise echoed loudly in the small space. Mai felt a few flecks of stone fall on her face but she kept going, she hit out until her arms were numb, on her back she started to kick until finally she heard Monk.

Very faintly she could hear his voice "I think there is something coming from over here". In response Mai slammed her feet against the rubble.

"Did you hear that? I think they are over here" Monk said.

Mai let out a sigh of relief, she paused and heard some faint shuffling coming from above her. She put one of her hands on Narus chest to make sure he was still breathing while she waited for the shifting noise to come closer to her.

After what felt like an eternity later she heard a clanking noise right about her

"WE'RE DOWN HERE" she yelled

"Mai! There you are, we'll be able to get you out shortly" Monk said

"Is Shibuya with you?" She heard Lin asked

"YES, BUT HE'S UNCONSCIOUS, YOU NEED TO HURRY I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH AIR WE HAVE" Mai shouted out with one last puff.

There was a large thumbing noise and then Mai felt a spotlight shining on her, she threw her hand up across her face, while her eyes adjusted. About 3 feet above her stood Monk.

She looked up at him "about time" she said

"Hey, don't blame us, you were the one running around with a hammer trying to smash stuff up" Monk said back

"We can discuss blame later, Naru's unconscious, we need to get him out of here" Mai said from below.

"Alright hold on" Monk said and the spotlight disappeared for a second. Mai managed to stand up in the small tunnel Monk had managed to cave out. Her legs felt a bit unsteady but no sign of damage from the earlier rubble. "Here" Monk said and Mai felt a rope fall down beside her. "See if you can tie that around his body and we'll manoeuvre him up.

"Alright give me a minute" Mai said back.

 _1 hour later_

It took a lot of time and effort but eventually they managed to drag Naru and Mai out of the basement and back in to the base.

Mai watched as they laid Naru out on the couch, his clothes were crumbled, and he was covered in dust and dirt. Mai snorted and then laughed thinking about how mortified he'd be if he could see what he looked like.

"Don't laugh you look just as bad as he does" Masako said from across the room, Mai just shrugged in response. She probably did but didn't really care.

"I think he'll be fine, he probably just passed out from lack of oxygen, his breathing is less shallow than before so he'll just wake up naturally" Ayako said examining Naru, Lin nodded in response and then turned to Mai.

Mai flinched, she'd faced many monsters in her travels but nothing sent fear through her quite like Lin's angry face. "Can you explain to us exactly what happened Taniyama?"

Mai recalled what had happened to them, she discussed her original plan and what happened when they were trapped and then the dream she was shown.

The group sat for a few minutes digesting what she had said.

"I think there is still something we are missing. If the brother did kill his father and sister for wealth, then why is he still here? It must have something to do with his death as well" Mai said

"That makes sense, it's a safe bet to say that the families who lived here would have been well off" Yasu said

Mai could see the dark rings around his eyes and realised the rest of the group looked just as bad, glancing at one of the monitors she realised that the time was 11pm the next day. The group had been awake for at least 24 hours straight and they looked exhausted.

"Well I don't think there is much more we can do tonight, why don't you all go to bed and I'll stay up and watch the monitors" Mai said

"Sounds good to me, I'm knackered" Monk said stretching his arms up and getting up to leave.

Lin hesitated at the door, "I promise I won't break anything or try to fight anyone. If Naru wakes up I'll tell him what happened and then send him to bed."

Lin simply nodded in response and disappeared to bed leaving Mai alone in the base with an unconscious Naru.

 _3am_

'Ugh this is sooo boring' Mai thought to herself as she spun on the computer chair. She always hated this part of any case, the waiting and watching. She was never any good with being patient and monitor watching was her least favourite activity. However, she owned the group at least a few hours of sleep since she was the one that upset the spirit in the first place and resulted in them working nonstop to get her and Naru out. Glancing over she could see Naru was still unconscious on the couch, she watched his chest rise and fall and figured he would wake up naturally. Sighing again she turned back to the screens and continued to watch for anything unusual.

 _11am_

 **Mai's P.O.V**

Mai had managed to stay awake until 6 am when Lin came back to the base and let her get some sleep. Stretching out her arms as she walked down the upstairs hallway, she had managed to get most of the dust, dirt and dried blood out of her clothes and skin. Her scar was still red from yesterday but she had managed to lose her glasses in the havoc and only had the bottom part of her mask to wear. Without the Hidachis around she didn't worry about anyone looking at her face so just left it bare. She had pulled her hair up into a ponytail and was wearing her usual black tank top, black jeans and black boots. Her shoes were a little worse for wear but unfortunately unlike the rest of her clothes she didn't have any spares with her.

Passing in to the door of the base she could see most of the group had already appeared

"Morning" Monk said

Mai just nodded in response, she made her way over to the window seat and sat down, the group continued their discussion.

"so, you don't still have any information about family names?" Monk asked Yasu

"no, like I said records don't go as far back as 1300's, at least not in areas like this" Yasu signed

"Well that's just perfect" Ayako huffed "no new information except from what Mai told us, not exactly much to go on"

"It's not my fault that I can't find anything, you try looking for information on a random family from almost 900 years ago without a name and see how much you get" Yasu snapped

"Listen here you brat" Ayako snapped, she was standing baring her teeth and looked about ready to smack Yasu over the face with her bag.

Mai could sense a lot more tension amongst the group than there was previously, sometimes this happened on cases where there was no indication of finishing it. Mai ignored the bickering and walked over to Lin, "did Naru wake up?" She asked him

"He woke up just after you left" Lin said without breaking eye contact from his laptop screen

"How is he?" Mai asked slightly concerned that she'd cause him to get injured

"he's fine, he just needed some rest and he'll back to his pain in the ass self" Lin responded

Mai had to hold back a laugh, it was clear that Lin was at breaking point with Naru's behaviour as well. She knew she had to offer him something, something to make her seem a little less inhuman than she was currently coming off as.

She sat down next to Lin, "I understand that it must be difficult for you to be back over here because of him. I bet you miss Madoke a lot."

Lin just looked up at her, she could see that he was slightly shocked

"I'm sorry if my being here has caused more issues than it has solved." Mai said to Lin. "To be honest, I'm not sure why I'm back here" casting a glance back at the group who were having a laugh at Ayako and Yasu fighting. She looked back at Lin "I wish I could leave and let you guys get on with cases by yourselves but, there is a part of me that thinks I have unfinished business with you all". She paused to take in a breath and let her eyes close for a moment. Opening her eyes again she could see Lin was still watching her, "I don't know where else to go. Do you understand that?" She asked

Lin was silent and then nodded "yes. For what it's worth I think the group is enjoying having you back around Mai"

"Ha try telling that to Naru, I must have put his insurance rates up through the roof" she smirked

"Don't worry about Naru, he might think he knows everything but sometimes he forgets how naïve he can be" Lin said

"Thanks Lin" Mai said, she felt like something in her chest had lifted slightly. She felt like she was 16 again, enjoying being part of a family, something then clicked in her head.

"The mother" she whispered

"hmm" Lin asked.

Standing up from her chair she walked over to the table, "the mother" she said to the group.

"What Mai?"

"Think about it, the brother killed his father and sister but what about the mother?" She said. "There was nothing in the dreams or visions about her being dead, she must have been around when this happened"

The group looked at her, "that's a good point" Monk said

"It is, however, it wont make it any easier to find any more information." Yasu said

"Okay, how about rather than looking for names, look for riots or mob attacks. Anything that would suggest the mother gave information about her son to the other locals" Mai said

Monk rubbed his chin "so, basically you think that the brother killed his dad for his wealth, his sister was in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up dead too. That would explain why her spirit is still lingering around. Then the mother discovered what happened and turn her own son into the community or what would be the equivalent of the authorities in those days." Monk finished.

Mai nodded "In those days the price for murder was treason. Like in the cursed house case we had on the cliff. Remember the two lovers and the angry mod who chased them down and killed them? Perhaps that's what we are looking at. The son who never got the time to enjoy the wealth he so desperately wanted has stayed here and his anger at his mum cause him to start possessing and lashing out. He can only occupy male vessels of a certain age because that mimics his death, that's why there has never been any more incidents before the Adachis moved in." Mai finished.

"I think you might have cracked it" Monk said

"There is only one issue, how the hell do we cleanse it?" Ayako said

Lin chimed in "if he has transformed in to a Goryo as Taniyama suggested then the only was to cleanse him is by a Yamabushi."

"A what?" John asked

"A Yamabushi, they were believed to be endorsed with powers, they were called the hermits of the mountains" Mai finished

"Have you had experiences with them before?" Lin asked

"No, but I do know some stuff about them. They are essentially believe in a strand of Buddhism. I can't imagine we'd be able to find one quickly enough to get them to be able to cleanse this place" Mai said

Lin replied "I'm not aware of anyone who would even have contacts with someone who still practices"

Monk sighed and sat back in his seat "so back to square one then?"

"I think we should wait until Shibuya is awake. Monk, Ayako, Yasu why don't you go and see if you can find out any information about how we can cleanse a Goryo. John and Miss Hara could you do more readings of the house? Maybe take a walk around outside the property and see if you can find anything." Lin finished. The group got up and started getting ready to leave

"What do you want me to do Lin?" Mai asked

"I want you to go down to the basement and see if you can dig up the bodies that are down there" Lin finished

"Eh you can't be serious" Monk said "by herself? That'll take forever"

"Yes, I am serious. Think of it as payment for causing the place to collapse" Lin finished coldly

"Quick run before we get roped in to helping" Yasu said and the group swiftly vanished out the door.

Mai said nothing, she knew she wouldn't be able to clear the place quickly, but the physical work would take her mind off a lot of stuff.

 ** _3 Hours later_**

Mai huffed moving another large piece of flooring across to the side. Her clothes were stuck to her in a layer of sweat and her muscles burned from hours of clearing. She had managed to move enough rubble to get in to the space her and Naru had been trapped in previously, she figured the best place to start was there.

"Any luck?" Lin grunted through a walkie talkie. They hadn't been able to set up any more cameras because of the mess but Mai had been given a walkie talkie and with strict instructions from Lin that she was to contact him as soon as she saw anything.

She unclipped it from her waist band "No" she said. She'd dug up bodies, wrecked houses and destroyed various stuff along the way during her cases but this was the first time she'd had to completely dig up a basement by herself. Luckily, she had her PK to help her with the larger pieces. She was strong but not strong enough to move the entire floor, despite popular horror lore, not everyone with supernatural powers could do that. She dropped herself back down into the space that she was in earlier. She's moved enough to transform the space from being big enough to fit one person in to it to cover almost half of the original basement size. She couldn't see anything, she had managed to rig up a makeshift lighting system so that she could vaguely see what she was doing but even without the lights she knew that she wouldn't find anything.

Sighing she decided to take a lunch break, she pulled herself up out of the hole, and then climbed up the metal ladders and into the kitchen. She was met with Ayako, Monk and Yasu sitting around the small dining table having a discussion while eating lunch. Grabbing a seat, she made her way over to the table and plonked herself down, reaching out she grabbed a plate of what appeared to be some kind of pasta.

"Ewww you look disgusting" Yasu said while holding his nose

"You always know the right thing to say to a lady don't you" Mai remarked while digging in to the pasta.

"You do look like you could do with a shower Mai" Monk responded

"Well excuse me, not all of us have the joy of being sent to the library to dig up information" Mai shot back. "Speaking of which did you find anything?" Mai asked

"While we didn't find anything specific, we think your theory is probably right. As for cleansing his spirit we have no clue" Monk finished

"I was thinking we could try cleansing with fire, if we could find what's left of the remains we might be able to cleanse the spirits" Ayako said

"Hmm, that could work but would that get rid of the brother as well?" Yasu asked

"It might. It would depend on if the bodies were what was keeping him tied to the house" Mai said, she moved to wash her plate in the sink, she turned around to move back to the basement when a voice came through the walkie talkie

"If everyone could come to the base" Naru's voice echoed through the kitchen

"Ahh it appears as if we have been summoned by the dark lord" Yasu joked, the group shuffled through to the base room.

Back in the base room, Naru and Lin stood by the monitors while John and Masako sat together on the couch looking over a folder, Mai noticed they were sitting slightly closer together than normal. 'Interesting' she thought, 'weird that Masako had decided to give up her hunt for Naru and had now stuck her claws into John. Poor John' Mai thought to herself. Deciding it was safer to stay standing to avoid getting dust everywhere she moved over to the window, the sun was high in the sky and shining through the trees, it was too bright for Mai who'd spent the day in almost darkness so she turned away from the window.

Naru coughed and got the groups attention, "from what I've been told while I was unconscious" he shot Mai a glare before he continued "is that we don't have a clear way to cleanse this spirit."

"At the current moment we don't even have an exact record of what happened to everyone who was part of that family" Yasu chimed in

"There is one option that is certain to work" Mai said from her spot

The group paused waiting on her to continue.

"We just burn the whole place down. If in doubt fire always works." Mai finished, while she knew this wouldn't go down well in difficult cases like this there sometimes wasn't any other options.

"You can't be serious" Masako chimed in

"Why not? No bodies, no house, means no spirit. Problem sorted" Mai shrugged while trying to pick dirt out from under her nails.

"As much as I'm sure the Adachis would love to return to their family home burned to the ground, I think we need to take a different route" Naru finished

"Ugh I see where this is going, if anyone needs me I'll be digging through the rubble looking for bodies" Mai said while making her way to the door. "HA if I had 100 yen every time I had to say that" Mai chuckled to herself while leaving the group to discuss other options.

 **Group's P.O.V**

"HA if I had 100 yen every time I had to say that" Mai snorted and left the room.

Ayako just blinked "I don't even know how to respond to that."

"Anyway, Naru you were saying?" Monk said

"I think the best course of action is to dig up the bodies and purify them. If that doesn't work then we'll take it from there" Naru finished

"Guess we better start digging then" Monk said.

 ** _3 Days Later – 7pm_**

Mai's P.O.V

"AHHH. I give up! This is pointless!" Monk stated while lying down next to the pile of rubble he'd helped move.

"Maybe rather than complaining you could get back to working with everyone else" Ayako chimed through the walkie talkie

"That's rich coming from you, you aren't the one down here doing the heavy work" Monk snapped back

"Moving a collapsed basement isn't work for someone like me or Masako for that matter" Ayako responded

"Oh yeah then explain why Mai is here" Monk snapped back

"How should I know? She's practically superhuman and it's her fault the basement collapsed in the first place" Ayako finished

Mai sighed and tuned out the rest of their argument, she kept digging away, the hole was now about 5 feet deeper than it was before. They had been taking shifts to try and move as much rubble as possible, but it was easier said than done. Mai had tried a few times to try and see if she could sense anything with her PK but she got nothing.

"Excuse me but when did we turn into contractors?" Yasu asked from behind her. "And how come it was us four that got roped in to it? I don't see Naru or Lin down here moving cement" he puffed which trying to shift a piece of stone out of his way.

"Ha you don't expect Naru to do anything like this do you? He might wrinkle one of his shirts. Heaven forbid!" Mai mocked, Yasu laughed.

"Mai can't you just use your PK and move everything?" Yasu pleaded

"Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that, sometimes you can move different things depending on how strong you are but in this case we don't even know how far down we need to be" Mai responded.

"Ugh, all I'm saying is it seems a bit pointless to be able to have powers when you can't use them when you need to" Yasu said

Mai bent down and felt around the ground, "HA you're telling me" she responded. She traced her hand across the ground, the ground felt different. "Hey someone pass me a torch over"

"Incoming" Monk said from above

Mai caught the torch in her hand and turned it on, shining it at her feet she realised the rubble had given way to a layer of dust, running her hand over the patch she noticed it was wooden.

"Hey Mai what you got over here?" Yasu asked from above her, "Holy crap is that what I think it is?"

"I think it might be, come on let's get the shovel and see what we've got here"

 ** _2 hours later_**

The group stood around the dug-up chest in the base. Mai, Monk and Yasu were covered in dirt and sweat but thankful to have found it after 3 days of nothing.

"Should we open it?" Yasu asked

"After you man, those bodies have been in there for centuries, I don't wanna know what kind of state they are in" Monk said while waving his hands in front of his face

"Well they are probably nothing but bones by now" Yasu responded

"I don't care, I aint touching that thing" Monk said

"Oh, for the love of god" Mai said pushing past them, she grabbed the lid of the chest, ripped the padlock off of it and pushed the lid open. Mai gagged at the smell that came out of the chest, "Jesus that's a strong smell". Eyes watering she pushed the lid completely off the chest to reveal the remains of two bodies. "Thank god for that, I don't know about you but if I don't see another basement for the rest of eternity then I'll be happy." Mai said

Shifting the chest over the rest of the group came for a look.

"Alright, John, Monk can you get the purification ceremony ready and we'll burn this once you are ready" Naru said

Monk sighed and Mai decided it was time for her to make a run for it before she was asked to do anything else.

Making her way to the shared bedroom she threw herself into a shower. She watched as the water turned brown from dirt and sweat. She must have stood in there for a good 20 minutes before deciding to turn the hot water off and get out. There was a knock on the door, "Mai they've started performing the purification outside," Ayakos voice came through the door

"Thanks, I'll be down in a bit" Mai replied. Pulling on her black leggings, a black sports bra because all of her tops were a mess and her leather jacket she made her way down stairs. As she made her way out of the back door she caught the last few lines of Monks chant and saw the flames spark, grow bigger and then die back down. Standing at the back door she felt a rush of air running through the house and past her. She wandered down the garden to stand next to Masako.

 _"thank you"_ a voice whispered

Masako turned to look at Mai, she had on a beautiful red floral kimono, Mai always wondered how she managed to wear those things without passing out from heat exhaustion. "Did you hear that?" Masako asked from behind her sleeve

"Yeah" Mai responded watching the flames, "do you think that's them all gone?"

Masako paused and closed her eyes "I can't sense anything left"

"Are you sure? The brothers spirit was pretty intense" Mai asked

"I'm sure, there is nothing malicious left in the house" Masako finished.

Mai just nodded and looked back into the flames, sometimes cases were like that, a simple cleansing gets rid of the spirit, slightly anticlimactic but that's how it goes sometimes.

 ** _The Next Day_**

The group had stayed overnight to make sure there were no other issues. Mai watched as the group packed up the equipment while Naru and Lin stood discussing everything with the whole Adachi family, she drifted in and out of the conversation.

"As you can understand we had to excavate the basement to get to the bodies" Lin was explaining to Mr Adachi, he was an older gentleman with brown hair. Mai turned away and listened in to Ayako and Monk arguing about how the equipment should be put in to the van. Sitting on the window seat that she had grown accustom too she was trying to figure out her next move.

"Mai" a voice snapped her out of her head

Standing up she looked up into Naru's eyes "Yes?" she asked

"Here" he said while handing her an envelope.

"What's this?" She asked feeling the paper

"Maybe rather than asking stupid questions you just open it" Naru said. Opening the envelope, she saw a large amount of Yen.

"I still don't understand" Mai said

"While some employers like to cut their employees' wages, I always think staff should be given their rightful wage." He smirked turning away from her.

Mai stood for a second looking at the cash, it was a while since she'd had this much money in her hand. "Well I'm not going to refuse payment that is rightfully mine, after all I did just about break my back on this case" She smirked and walked past Naru to the bed room. She'd packed up her stuff (not that it had taken long) and was getting ready to leave.

She jumped on to her bike and attached her gear, to her surprise when she lifted up the seat she found her second pair of sunglasses. She watched as the group finished packing up and started to get in to their cars, she watched as they pulled out of the driveway. Pulling on her helmet she revved her engine and took off, going off road she wove around trees until she could see the van and car on the road up ahead and decided to get a little pay back, speeding up she rode the bike down and landed in the lane next to the vehicles, revving she could see a passing truck coming her way. Speeding up she skidded past the truck and ended up in front of the van, without looking back she let herself get caught up in the moment and flew ahead in front, she finally decided where she was going. She was going back to the only place she could call home.


End file.
